Lazada, the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba of China, aims to build on the success of its daily in-app live streaming activities in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand and roll out the tech to other markets in the region.

The company, keen to showcase how its marketing initiatives have aided brands and sellers to engage their customers, outlined to Marketing Interactive some of its plans and results from its recent live-streaming events.

According to a spokesperson, in-app live streaming lies at the core of its strategy of “shoppertainment”, a blend of experiential shopping and entertainment, which Lazada wants to extend to Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.

So far Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia have hosted 3,000 live stream sessions, including fashion shows involving both local and international designers. Its “See-Now-Buy-Now” live streamed fashion shows have also attracted 300,000 views.

One very important event for Lazada was its month-long Women’s Festival held throughout May, which focused on female consumers aged 18 to 24 in recognition of their importance as digital influencers.

According to Lazada, 85% of all brand purchases are made by women in the e-commerce ecosystem and a fifth (22%) of women shop online at least once a day.

In-app games, live-streamed fashion shows and market-specific pop-up stores all formed part of Lazada’s marketing campaign in the run up to its Women’s Festival.

Mary Zhou, Lazada Group’s chief marketing officer, said the company aims to empower sellers and support them with marketing and shoppertainment initiatives to engage consumers and become “leaders in their field”.

“That is how they can ultimately excite customers to drive the growth of their e-businesses and online shopping. So, everyone can look forward to more live streaming and high quality content that will be launched in the coming months,” she added.

“Women are truly [a] significant part of Lazada’s e-commerce ecosystem,” said Jing Yin, Lazada group president. “Therefore, Lazada wants [to] bring onboard more women sellers and buyers onto the platform.”

Sourced from Marketing Interactive; additional content by WARC staff