Lazada expands Alibaba's Taobao offering to other Southeast Asia regions

Lazada has unveiled plans to expand its Taobao Collection offering to three additional markets, namely Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. This followed the recent launch in Singapore and Malaysia, bringing the total number of Southeast Asia countries with this offering to five.Aimone Ripa di Meana, Lazada Group's chief marketplace officer, said that with the Taobao brand known throughout Southeast Asia, he expects Taobao Collection to "really take off" in the region as it becomes available in more countries. He explained that there was a strong interest in the offering’s products from Singapore consumers since its introduction six months ago.Across Southeast Asia, Lazada currently has 175 million products from international and local-country brands and merchants. According to the press statement, Taobao Collection contributes about 8 million per country. The move will add breadth to Lazada’s range, particularly in fashion and home and living.The Taobao Collection launched in Indonesia on 25 September 2017. It will debut in the Philippines on 11 October and Thailand on 1 November, according to the press statement.In March this year, Alibaba partnered Lazada Singapore to bring Taobao, an online marketplace and shopping site similar to eBay, Rakuten and Amazon, to Singapore. The partnership links Lazada directly to Taobao, which Alibaba said is its largest shopping platform.Before the collaboration, Taobao shoppers in Singapore had to rely on agents such as ezbuy to shop on the website, which is also written in primarily Chinese. The move allowed for a dedicated online store will be created that links directly to Taobao and will be called taobao.lazada.sg.