Southeast Asia’s Largest Online Shopping Mall Seeks Sellers from S. Korea

Will Ross, CEO of Lazada Crossborder, speaks during a press conference in Seoul on Nov. 7, 2017. (image: Lazada Group)

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Lazada Group, which runs the largest online shopping platform in Southeast Asia, said Tuesday it is looking for South Korean companies who will sell their products in the growing market.

The Southeast Asian online retail market has the potential to grow at up to 25 percent per year, thanks to increasing purchasing power and growing Internet penetration, the company said.

“Southeast Asia’s Internet economy is fast growing with 260 million existing users and 3.8 million new users coming online every month,” Will Ross, CEO of Lazada Crossborder, said during a press conference held in Seoul.

Hong Kong-based Lazada Crossborder is Lazada Group’s affiliate in charge of acquiring and developing sellers for the online mall which is available in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The group is majority owned by China’s commerce giant Alibaba Group.

Ross said South Korean firms will benefit from the growing influence of Korean products and culture across Southeast Asian, dubbed “hallyu,” or Korean wave.

Lazada recently established partnerships with local companies to promote more Korean products on the shopping site.

Currently, a number of Korean products, including those from the country’s tech giant Samsung and other cosmetic brands, are available on the site, it said.

(Yonhap)