Lazada wants to build another "Tmall" in Southeast Asia.
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Author | Huang Yu
Editor | Wang Xiaojuan
Chinese goods going global are moving from the “age of selling goods” into the “age of branding.” Seizing this opportunity, nearly 9 years after being acquired by Alibaba, Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada aims to become the primary battleground for Tmall merchants in Southeast Asia.
On September 25, WallstreetCN learned from Lazada that as part of their brand strategy upgrade, before this year’s Double 11, Lazada has completed a system connection with Tmall, enabling Tmall brands zero-entry to five overseas markets: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Reportedly, this project has been named “One-Click Easy Overseas Sales.” Currently, Tmall merchants’ backend already has an application portal open. Tmall account managers will screen and open up the system interface to eligible merchants. Afterwards, an identical store will be generated in Lazada’s brand mall LazMall, where goods, inventory, promotions, and discounts will all be updated synchronously.
Lazada President Qian Cheng said, “Branding has entered a golden era, and now we have even stronger internal collaborative support.”
It is introduced that there are two key points behind “One-Click Easy Overseas Sales.” One is internal collaboration: Tmall account managers will deeply participate in the project, selecting the most suitable and highest-quality brand merchants to enter. The other is system interoperability: via system connection and AI capabilities between the two platforms, Tmall merchants will obtain a “twin” store on Lazada.
This strategy, defined as a “DNA-level upgrade,” targets a clear goal: Lazada wants to replicate Tmall’s brand mall in the Southeast Asian market, where e-commerce penetration is still low and consumption power continues to rise.
Although cross-border e-commerce is booming, many domestic trade merchants still have concerns about going global. Therefore, Lazada’s first priority is to lower the threshold for Tmall merchants to expand overseas.
Reportedly, after Tmall merchants sign up in the backend, when an order occurs, Lazada’s order will be sent to the Tmall backend. Tmall merchants only need to ship to a domestic transit warehouse. Lazada will be responsible for the subsequent cross-border transportation and after-sales, with no need for registration or building an overseas team during the whole process.
Of course, considering that some merchants may fear initial pitfalls but want to take charge themselves, Lazada has also provided solutions.
Qian Cheng also pointed out that “One-Click Easy Overseas Sales” is just a starting point, allowing merchants to test exporting to Southeast Asia in a lightweight way. If brands find the Southeast Asian market truly suitable for them, they can start deeper operations, operate the shop directly, and equip a local team. Lazada will then provide full-process cooperation support, from product compliance, selection, stocking, to marketing implementation.
In Qian Cheng’s view, for merchants the core competitive advantage of Lazada’s “One-Click Easy Overseas Sales” is that it’s the most lightweight business opportunity to gain independent operational rights for a store in Southeast Asia.
Why choose this moment to launch “One-Click Easy Overseas Sales”?
Qian Cheng stated, “Double 11 is coming. Every year Double 11 is the biggest and most important annual business growth opportunity for brand merchants. We want to tell merchants that this year there’s a chance for an extra overseas battlefield to achieve double explosive growth.”
It’s worth noting that after brand merchants participate in Tmall Double 11, all the discounts will be synchronized to Lazada, with simultaneous sales starting in China and Southeast Asia.
This brand strategy upgrade is the first time Lazada is fully opening up its Southeast Asian localized operation capabilities to Tmall merchants, and is also an “upgrading” move in the face of fierce competition in the Southeast Asian e-commerce industry.
Momentum Works published the “2025 Southeast Asia E-commerce Report” showing that in 2024, Southeast Asian platform e-commerce GMV reached $128.4 billion, with Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop forming a three-way stalemate and carving up over 80% of the Southeast Asian market.
Since its founding in 2012, Lazada has positioned itself as a brand mall, being one of the earliest retail and brand mall platforms in Southeast Asia. In July last year, Lazada recorded a positive EBITDA and achieved profitability.
Standing at such a turning point of profitability, Lazada clearly has bigger ambitions. Lazada chooses to break the impasse with “brand upgrade,” trying to escape price wars and build an ecosystem focusing on quality and service—this is highly similar to Tmall’s development path in the domestic market.
However, Qian Cheng pointed out that previously, Lazada’s brand mall mainly featured some international brands and local brands from six Southeast Asian countries, and relying on existing supply could not sustain Lazada’s grand ambition for overall platform branding and e-commerce upgrading.
Against this background, directly connecting to Tmall is obviously a key step for Lazada to replicate domestic e-commerce success in emerging markets.
With Double 11 approaching, this “Southeast Asia Tmall” experiment is about to face its first major test and may become the next growth point in Alibaba’s international e-commerce business.
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