The leaders at the helm of Lazada

The Checkout is Tech in Asia’s free newsletter that breaks down the biggest stories and trends in ecommerce. [Read from your browser]( The Checkout 🛒 Welcome to The Checkout! Delivered every Thursday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in ecommerce. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. Hello {NAME} In the last year till September 2021, Lazada was clocking in [US$21 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV)](. The Southeast Asian giant, which started out as an Amazon clone in 2012, has played a significant role in the evolution of the region’s ecommerce scene. Lazada has been through many changes, including a revolving door of CEOs, as my colleague Tay Tian Wen summarizes in our Big Story this week. Our story also delves into the relationship between Lazada and its parent firm Alibaba. For instance, several senior Lazada executives held top positions at the Chinese tech titan. While I recommend that you view the visual story on a screen larger than your phone, our Hot Take for this edition is mobile-friendly in more ways than one. It’s about TikTok and its ecommerce ambitions, after all. -- Nikita THE BIG STORY  [Org Chart: The people steering Lazada]( Image credit: Timmy Loen We look at the crew leading Lazada Group as the firm celebrates its 10th year this month. THE HOT TAKE  ByteDance’s ecommerce play Here’s what happened: - TikTok Shop, the ecommerce arm of TikTok, has launched in Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. - It was introduced in Indonesia and the UK last year. - TikTok’s ecommerce GMV reached US$951 million in 2021. Here’s our take: Last week, The Checkout analyzed why [ByteDance shut down its Shein clone]( Dmonstudio. There’s been major developments on ByteDance’s ecommerce side since then. For one, TikTok Shop, which allows creators and brands to sell products directly to consumers through the app, is [rapidly expanding across Southeast Asia]( and has ramped up hiring in Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. In 2021, TikTok’s ecommerce GMV totaled 6 billion yuan (US$951 million), which is [only about 1% of China-only counterpart Douyin’s GMV]( for the year. But for 2022, TikTok is looking at nearly 12 billion yuan from its ecommerce unit. It has reasons to be optimistic - the year it was established in China, Douyin’s ecommerce arm saw a GMV of about 500 billion yuan. Indonesia accounted for at least 70% of TikTok’s ecommerce GMV. The rest came from the UK, where TikTok Shop has been available since April 2021. While Douyin and TikTok’s parent ByteDance keeps its fingers crossed, it knows that livestreaming and social commerce play up to its strengths. In 2021, over 1.4 million social media conversations around livestream shopping took place in Southeast Asia, about 2x more than the same time a year before, according to a [report from Meltwater](. The media monitoring platform also found that Sea Group’s Shopee posted a 2.5x increase in annual livestream viewership on its platform. Shopee Celebrity Club livestreaming in action / Photo credit: Shopee ByteDance has been paying close attention to these trends. Last year, Douyin held a series of offline events in China to attract merchants, with executives describing the app’s [600 million daily active users as “very sticky.”]( The push also coincided with the rollout of payment service Douyin Pay. The timing is crucial: ByteDance’s ecommerce play comes as China’s government continues to keep a [close watch on tech companies]( for a variety of reasons, including monopolistic behavior. This makes room for others to grow. Getting into ecommerce also means that TikTok’s parent company considers itself a strong challenger to Chinese giants like Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Alibaba. Others feel that the tide might be turning as well. Following Alibaba’s recent results, an analyst [told the Financial Times]( that “the hit from Douyin and Kuaishou livestreaming ecommerce has been huge ... Taobao livestreaming can’t compete.” Kuaishou is a Douyin rival while Taobao is a C2C and B2C shopping marketplace operated by Alibaba. TikTok’s popularity has spilled over to its ecommerce business and it shows. #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is so catchy that [BuzzFeed]( came out with several articles dedicated to the hashtag. Once a Chinese phenomenon, livestreamed shopping has gone global and is fast becoming the modern-day version of teleshopping. So much so that Canadian TikToker Lisa Couture had to [temporarily close her candy store]( to fulfill the hundreds of orders that flooded in after her video went viral. Analysts also think that it’s only a matter of time before Chinese sellers [will have access to the wider world through TikTok]( which is expected to be “friendlier” to them than Amazon has been. Besides algorithms and resources, there’s another element at work in the social commerce game: the human factor. The popularity of TikTok Shop also depends on its roster of livestreaming stars. China’s Li Jiaqi or Lipstick Brother, [who sold US$2 billion in goods in a single day on Alibaba]( is a good example of the competition that ByteDance faces. It’s possible that with the now-defunct Dmonstudio, ByteDance could have had some control over the quality of select merchandise. But that’s not possible with a livestreaming model where the company has less control over the merchants on its platform. Take ByteDance’s Fanno, for instance. Much like [Shopee’s problems in India]( the quality of products is [reportedly a hit or miss on Fanno]( in Europe. ByteDance likely expects so much more from TikTok Shop than from Fanno. After all, TikTok already has a captive audience ripe for a livestreaming harvest. – Nikita  NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of Asia’s ecommerce scene [here](.  1️⃣ Sea Group’s [market value fell by US$10.4 billion]( after the company posted its quarterly results. The slump comes after Sea cut its year-on-year booking guidance for its digital entertainment unit Garena - a first for the Southeast Asian internet firm. 2️⃣ China-based Dianxiaomi, a cross-border ecommerce solutions startup, [has secured US$100 million]( in a round led by Tiger Global Management and Huaxing Growth Capital. Founded in 2014, Dianxiaomi provides enterprise resource planning solutions for ecommerce players. 3️⃣ AlloFresh, an Indonesia-based e-grocery startup, is preparing [to launch its business]( with about 1 trillion rupiah (around US$69.7 million) from Bukalapak and others. 4️⃣ SariSuki, a social commerce startup based in the Philippines, [has raised US$10.7 million]( this year. One of its co-founders is Brian Cu, the former president of Grab Philippines. 5️⃣ After Garena’s Free Fire game was banned in India as part of a clampdown on Chinese apps, [Singapore’s government has reached out to the Indian government for clarification](. Garena’s parent company, Sea Group, is headquartered in the city-state. FYI  Photo credit: 123rf.com/supernam [Retailers seek real-world profits in the metaverse]( While it's too soon to ‌know if a metaverse play can reduce overheads and increase margins for ecommerce businesses, many see it as a way to cash in on the attachment that people feel for their digital selves. That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Do also check out previous issues of the newsletter [here](. Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to your “edit profile” page and choosing that option in our preference center. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or ideas, feel free to get in touch with Terence, our editor-in-chief, at terence@techinasia.com. See you next week! [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Too many emails? 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