Two is better than one!
E-commerce in Southeast Asia will soon get an upgrade. With the industry booming, major players are reaping strong sales and seeing even brighter prospects ahead. The region has seen a growth of nearly 50%, and is expected to grow thrice as much in the next three years.
The consumer goods giant Unilever, sold more products online last month than it did the whole of last year. Meanwhile, at Lazada, the e-commerce platform had an increase of 150% shipment-wise this year. Alibaba-backed Lazada who recently launched their Lazada-Taobao marketplace, said that their business is experience strong growth across all markets, selling 39 million products across the region.
Lazada’s acquisition of online grocer RedMart last november coupled with Unilever’s rapid transformation as a physical retail business in South-east Asia, it is thus unsurprising that the giants are planning to join hands and take on the e-commerce world together.
Win-Win For Both
Their recently announced partnership is expected to take the market by storm. These two giants are finally joining forces and it would definitely be a win-win situation for both – after all Lazada has been hoping for a bigger slice of the online retail market.
For Lazada, a Unilever store will be featured on their online platform, enriching their current range of products. As for Unilever, it would serve as another retail channel and a way to tap on Lazada’s existing base of tech-savvy shoppers.
Also part of the deal – the two companies will be working closely together in terms of supply chain, data fulfillment, marketing, social commerce and talent development so as to grow their business’ reach in the region.
This collaboration will create one of the biggest warehousing networks in Southeast Asia, addressing a long-held challenge of the underdeveloped logistics infrastructure in the region.
Two Is Better Than One
The team-up will also be a process of collaborative learning, to discover new trends and solutions in the still evolving landscape of e-commerce. One of their key priorities will be learning how to overcome logistical inefficiencies in large and diverse markets such as Indonesia.
Lazada is eager to learn more about regional consumer habits through Unilever’s vast customer base, likewise, Unilever will be leveraging on this deal to expand its research capabilities, similar to a partnership it made in 2015 with Alibaba to reach more Chinese shoppers.