Alibaba Group is continuing its push into Southeast Asia by launching Taobao Collection, a selection of leading products from the world’s largest online marketplace, in three new markets there, including Indonesia.
Selling through the region’s leading e-commerce player, Lazada Group, Taobao Collection will bring 8 million products in categories ranging from home and beauty to sports and consumer electronics to shoppers in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest consumer market, as well as the Philippines and Thailand.
The Indonesia channel launched on Monday, while selling on the Philippines and Thailand channels will begin on Oct. 11 and Nov. 1, respectively.
Taobao Collection’s entry to the Southeast Asia market started six months ago in Singapore, followed by Malaysia inJune. In an attempt to better serve consumers, Taobao has tailored some of the products to the specific tastes of each market, while also presenting the collection in their local languages.
So far, the most popular products have been home goods and apparel. More specifically, they are the kinds of lifestyle products that consumers may not be able to find in brick-and-mortar retail stores near where they live, most often in rural areas outside of urban centers.
Alibaba is now a majority investor in Lazada, having invested about $2 billion in the company since last year. Lazada’s e-commerce platform serves six markets in Southeast Asia, or about 560 million people, connecting them with 128,000 regional and international brands.
In a statement, Lazada Group Chief Marketplace Officer Aimone Ripa di Meana said Taobao Collection has seen “strong interest” from consumers in Singapore since its launch in March. That success is “a true testament to the way the Lazada and Alibaba teams have come together to build the business in a fast and efficient way combining consumer insights, technology know-how and local expertise,” he said.
Where consumers in China may pay for goods bought online with Alipay, the mobile-payments solution owned by Alibaba affiliate company Ant Financial, cash is still king in Southeast Asia, according to Lazada. Therefore, the company offers convenient payment solution that is different from what shoppers in the world’s second-largest economy expect:
Consumers in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines can choose cash-on-delivery to pay for all of their Taobao Collection purchases.
