Lazada may enter the European market

As one of the largest online shopping sites in Southeast Asia, Lazada is already a well-known e-commerce platform for cross-border e-commerce sellers. Recently, some foreign media said:Alibaba Group plans to expand its Southeast Asian subsidiary Lazada to Europe, as Alibaba seeks further overseas growth amid slowing opportunities at home. A few months ago, Alibaba’s logistics arm, Cainiao, opened a European sales center in Belgium.

As of September 2021, Lazada has 159 million monthly active users, making it the largest e-commerce company in Southeast Asia. The company, founded by Rocket Internet a decade ago, has set a goal of reaching 300 million users by 2030.

In 2016, Alibaba spent about $1 billion to acquire a majority stake in Lazada, successfully taking control of Lazada.

Europe has suddenly become “organic” for Lazada in the face of rival Shopee’s gradual loss of market position in Europe.Last year, AliExpress launched in Poland, Spain and France, but has withdrawn from the French market due to weak growth prospects.

Alibaba believes that Lazada has a better chance of success because of its strong logistics position at Liège Cargo Airport in Belgium. In November, Alibaba opened a new central hub at the airport for its logistics subsidiary Cainiao, which Alibaba said was the largest in Europe.

In Europe, Lazada will differ from sister company AliExpress in that it will play more of a local marketplace role, working with European traders and sales partners, rather than AliExpress, which is largely provided by Chinese companies. Lazada Thailand CEO James Dong will lead the initiative, according to Reuters.

Alibaba’s expansion into overseas markets has become especially important in the face of slowing domestic growth in China.Ali needs to face powerful rivals such as Pinduoduo and TikTok , as well as the increasingly fierce market competition in Southeast Asia.

Neither Ali nor Lazada has commented positively on the matter so far.