Hamilton Crawford – Chinese Giant Increases Its Stake in e-Commerce Platform, Lazada, for $1 Billion
SHANGHAI, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / July 6, 2017 / Hamilton Crawford: Southeast Asian e-commerce operator, Lazada, has seen Alibaba’s stake in its operation increase to over 80% after the owner of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms paid $1 billion for a 32% to add to the 51% it bought last year.
Alibaba Office
The move is widely seen as Alibaba’s latest effort to establish itself as the dominant force in e-commerce in Southeast Asia and values Lazada at $3.15 billion. Alibaba controls 90% of the Chinese e-commerce market and while it is making forays into the US market, it is keen to build its footprint in Southeast Asia.
“Southeast Asia is among the fastest-growing online shopping markets in the world but it’s also quite fragmented,” explained a Hamilton Crawford technology sector analyst.
“In terms of internet users, it’s the world’s fastest growing region and it’s expected to be home to an online shopping market worth some $200 billion by 2025. Alibaba’s move is a relatively inexpensive bet on the future of the region,” he continued.
Lazada’s platform hosts 100,000 local and international vendors, offering them access to 560 million consumers across several countries, and is regarded by many industry analysts as among the top 3 strongest players and a “safe bet.”
Lazada’s main rival in the region is the “Shopee” platform, owned and operated by Sea, a former gaming platform backed by Alibaba’s Chinese rival, Tencent which also owns the wildly successful Chinese messaging app, WeChat. Sea is valued at around $3.75 billion and has filed for a listing on a US exchange.
“We see a great deal of promise in this deal and a fairly bright future for Lazada and we expect to see greater penetration of Alibaba’s other services like Alipay as it ramps up development of the company going forward,” said the Hamilton Crawford analyst.
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SOURCE: Hamilton Crawford
