Industrials Author：Muriel Meng Editor：Yiru Qian Dec 21, 2023 07:09 PM (GMT+8)

Southeast Asia has emerged as an important market for cross-border e-commerce competition.

Alibaba

Recently, Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada received a capital injection of USD 634 million from its parent company Alibaba Group (BABA:NYSE). It is reported that this funding comes as Alibaba continues to evaluate and adjust its strategies. Alibaba's total investment in Lazada has exceeded USD 1.8 billion this year.

According to statistics, Alibaba previously invested USD 1 billion in Lazada in 2017 and USD 2 billion in 2018. Subsequently, in 2022, Alibaba made three investments in Lazada totaling USD 1.6 billion. So far this year, Alibaba's total investment in Lazada has surpassed USD 1.8 billion. As of now, Alibaba's cumulative investment in Lazada has exceeded USD 7.4 billion.

Alibaba's third-quarter financial report shows that its revenue from international retail businesses reached CNY 18.978 billion, a remarkable year-on-year increase of 73%. This quarter, Alibaba achieved a new record in overseas retail revenue. This growth is mainly attributed to the strong performance of major retail platforms such as AliExpress, Lazada, and Trendyol, driving a year-on-year increase of approximately 28% in overall orders for Alibaba's international digital commerce group.

As an overseas local e-commerce platform under Alibaba, Lazada has high expectations for its performance. Lazada has previously revealed its goal to achieve a GMV of USD 100 billion and serve 300 million consumers by 2030. Continuous investment is seen as a wise choice in the context of a growing market.

The Southeast Asian market where Lazada operates is also one of the most promising e-commerce markets globally. According to the "2023 Global E-commerce Forecast Report" published by market research company eMarketer, the e-commerce market revenue in Southeast Asia is projected to reach USD 113.9 billion by 2023, with a growth rate of 18.6%, significantly surpassing the global average growth rate of 8.9% for e-commerce. Major cross-border e-commerce platforms have been entering this market, including Lazada, Shopee, as well as newcomers like TikTok and Temu, all coveting this market.