Lazada preps for mobile commerce

Lazada Malaysia celebrated its one-year anniversary at an exclusive party with media and business partners, who had a sneak peek into how goods ordered are processed and delivered right to a customer's doorstep.A part of Rocket Internet, a leading e-commerce business of more than 10 years, Lazada offers 12 categories of goods, from electronics and home appliances to books and health and beauty items, and employs 1000 staff, of which 200 are in Kuala Lumpur."Since our launch, we have garnered more than 450,000 likes on Facebook," said CEO of Lazada Malaysia Igor Pezzilli (pictured), adding that the website's fastest growing category is the health and lifestyle category.Pezzilli also unveiled Lazada's own tablet called Anaconda, launched last week, in line with the growth of e-commerce in the region.Lazada has also tied up with DiGi and Mastercard Worldwide, whereby shoppers who buy selected tablet on Lazada can get special discount on their tablet internet plan with DiGi, giving them savings of up to RM60 a year.With Mastercard, Lazada launched a six-month campaign, from December last year to May 2013, that gives MasterCard credit and debit card users rebates of up to RM80 on Mondays.Pezzilli tells A+M that Lazada aims to acquire more than 5,000 news suppliers by end 2013 and that it is developing a mobile app to enable buyers to buy through their mobile phones as well as check prices of items.