Lazada To Help Local SMEs Market Products In South-East Asia

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- Lazada, an online shopping and selling platform, is looking to assist local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) market their products online and throughout South-East Asia. Lazada Malaysia Chief Executive Officer, Hans-Peter Ressel, said Lazada would create solid structure packages with several government agencies to help the SMEs. "As the Number One online marketplace destination in the region, Lazada is open to any possibilities to support local merchants, including assisting new start-ups venture into e-commerce. "We are still in discussions with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp, Multimedia Development Corp, MSC Malaysia and other relevant agencies. "This in line with the country's aim in achieving the Vision 2020 agenda. "We are proud to be a part of it and are willing to collaborate with the government," he told Bernama. Meanwhile, on the Online Revolution campaign from Nov 11 to Dec 12, 2015, Ressel said, Lazada received orders for 1.7 million items, a 300 per cent jump over the same period last year. He said online traffic spiked to an all-time high of 36 million visits on its website and mobile applications on the final three-days of the month-long sale. "The campaign chalked up to US$40 million of gross merchandise value (GMV) or overall sales in the three days. "Mobile reigned, accounting for 60 per cent of the GMV as more customers made purchases using their mobile devices," he said in a statement Thursday. Ressel said since it began operating in Malaysia about three years ago with only 40,000 items, Lazada now offered over five million items and would continue to increase them to meet customers' demand. -- BERNAMA