Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s (阿里巴巴) Lazada Group is preparing to make its maiden foray into Europe, building on its success in Southeast Asia to take on rivals such as Amazon.com Inc and Zalando SE in one of the biggest online shopping markets.
Its specific plans depend on macroeconomic and market conditions, Lazada Group CEO James Dong told Bloomberg News.
Dong, a one-time business assistant to Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang (張勇), took the reins of Alibaba’s most important international business unit in June after heading Lazada’s Thailand and Vietnam operations.
The Chinese parent this week said it invested US$912.5 million in its Southeast Asian arm — taking the year’s capital influx to US$1.3 billion.
“Europe is a very big market, obviously, and for most of the European brands, their largest retail partner is Alibaba Group because of their sales in China and in other markets,” Dong said in an interview in Singapore. “We go where the brands want us to go.”
A European push by Lazada would mark a revival in Alibaba’s global efforts, which slowed in recent years in the face of torrid competition from Amazon and Sea Ltd, which is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊).
Lazada’s increasing investments are in stark contrast to archrival Shopee, the e-commerce unit of Singapore’s Sea, which has been retreating after years of aggressive international push from Brazil to Poland to drive growth beyond Southeast Asia.
Shopee pulled out of France and India in March, only a few months after launching its operations in those markets, as it tries to boost profitability.
Meanwhile, Lazada has been investing in businesses such as Indonesian digital wallet provider DANA, in which it put in US$304.5 million, a stock exchange filing showed.
It also led a 750 million ringgit (US$167.37 million) financing in TNG Digital SDN, the owner and operator of Malaysia’s largest e-wallet company Touch ’n Go.
Lazada’s investments, such as DANA and TNG Digital, “show a very high level of commitment in this climate,” Dong said. “We are continuously investing.”
Lazada plans to add a few hundred employees in Indonesia in the coming months and expand its office space in Jakarta to drive growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest and most important market.
The company, which began 10 years ago, operates in six countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Alibaba has long advocated for a larger number of open ecosystems, saying users should have more choices. The Chinese company wants Lazada to serve more than 300 million users by 2030, doubling from 150 million customers now.
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