Forbes Asia — December 2017

DECEMBER 2017 FORBES ASIA | 15

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hinese e-commerce giant Alibaba racked up $25.3 billion in sales

during its November Singles Day promotion, beating last year’s

numbers by 40%. The online shopping frenzy would again put

America’s Black Friday–Cyber Monday activity in the shade. But

this year especially the Hangzhou company has reason to cele-

brate the results of its strong push in Southeast Asia.

Lazada, the e-commerce platform there in which Alibaba holds an 83%

stake, saw record Singles Day sales, according to cofounder and chief mar-

ketplace officer Aimone Ripa di Meana—a $123 million total. And just wait:

The 11/11 promotion kicked off a monthlong “Online Revolution” at Laza-

da, throughout which customers will be offered a variety of deals from high-

profile vendors such as Xiaomi and L’Oréal. The revolution culminates on De-

cember 12, or 12/12, which is Indonesia’s national online shopping “holiday”

(which, of course, Lazada christened itself ).

“Obviously these numbers are very exciting, but what really matters is the

engagement and activation of our customers,” Meana says, continuing in full

Web-speak: “The genesis of this is really to create a moment where the whole

ecosystem can rally, where we can let buyers and sellers interact in a new way.”

It helps that the ASEAN countries have a consumer base of more than 630

million, with an unusually high concentration in the young. Both per capita

spending and population numbers are on the rise throughout the region, ac-

cording to the World Economic Forum, making it ripe for e-commerce busi-

nesses. The ASEAN markets in particular are expected to outpace North Asia

in terms of growth, with Bloomberg predicting that the former will see 5%

THIS

REVOLUTION

IS BEING

TELEVISED

Alibaba’s Lazada arm brings the

online shopping frenzy

full-on to Southeast Asia.

BY CASEY HYNES