Lazada president Jessica Liu steps down from e-commerce platform
By Rachel Phua
May 31, 2021
Jessica Liu, president of Lazada Group, will be leaving the Alibaba-owned Southeast Asian e-commerce platform to spend more time with her family, a company spokesperson confirmed.
“Jessica is leaving Lazada to spend more time with her family. Under her leadership LazMall has grown to become one of the largest online virtual malls in Southeast Asia,” a statement from Lazada said. “We want to thank Jessica for this and her many other contributions, and wish her well as she takes some time off to focus on her family.”
Her departure was first reported by Bloomberg.
Liu joined Lazada in 2020 as its president and head of LazMall, the platform’s marketplace for international and local brands. In 2021, she also became the chief executive officer of Lazada Thailand.
Prior to joining Lazada, she was a general manager for Tmall fashion and luxury at Alibaba. Tmall is a marketplace for local and international businesses to sell their branded products. Liu joined Alibaba in 2012.
Lazada, which was acquired by Alibaba in 2016, did not say if it had identified a replacement for Liu.
Last June, the e-commerce platform replaced its former chief executive officer and co-founder Pierre Poignant with its then-Lazada co-president and Indonesia CEO Chun Li, who is also a former Alibaba executive.
Lazada has struggled to compete against regional rival Shopee, the e-commerce unit of Tencent-backed Sea Limited. For example, in Singapore, Shopee’s monthly web visits of 12 million outweigh Lazada’s 7.3 million, according to Q1 2021 data from iPrice.
However, during its latest earnings report, Alibaba said that Lazada had recorded triple-digit year-over-year order growth last year and this quarter, and will continue to invest in technology and logistics to help merchants better service consumers. Alibaba has poured over $4 billion in Lazada since its 2016 acquisition.
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Magnus Ekbom will be the company’s Malaysia chief, Jessica Liu will lead in Thailand.
Pierre Poignant will be replaced by Chun Li, a Lazada co-founder and head of its Indonesia operations.