Grab announced a collaboration with Lazada in Vietnam on Tuesday to integrate their product offerings from November 11, enabling Vietnamese users of either app to access both platforms directly from their app homepages.
“Apart from the challenges, COVID-19 has also spurred the adoption of digital services in Vietnam and encouraged digital-first consumer behavior. As a result, more and more consumers are now considering virtual choices to fulfill their daily needs, and we anticipate that the transition to digital services will continue to accelerate,” said Nguyen Thai Hai Van, managing director at Grab Vietnam.
Vietnamese users will be able to access GrabFood, Grab’s on-demand food delivery platform, from the homepage of Lazada’s app and website, while Grab’s users in Vietnam can also access Lazada’s platform via several links embedded in campaign-based banners and widgets on the Grab app’s homepage, according to the statement released by Grab Vietnam on Tuesday. Other benefits include cross-platform vouchers and point-to-point delivery solutions enabled by GrabExpress, among others.
The news came on Singles’ Day, a shopping bonanza that originated in China but has gained popularity in Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, one of the fastest-growing digital economies in the region, is also seeing players racing to leverage the shopping festival.
“We are expecting volumes of over 30 times the norm from domestic and cross-border sales this Singles’ Day season. In addition, we are also expecting our logistics fleet to see a 25% increase in mileage fulfilling orders in this year’s event, compared to last year,” James Dong, CEO of Lazada Vietnam, told KrASIA in an interview.
Ngo Hoang Gia Khanh, Tiki’s vice president of growth added in another interview, “Singles’ Day sales this time are expected to triple year-over-year and increase by 30% compared to that of the previous sales on 10.10.”
Amid Vietnam’s fierce e-commerce competition, Shopee remains the most popular e-commerce platform by traffic in the second quarter of 2020, followed by Alibaba-backed Lazada, and homegrown players Tiki and Sendo, according to a recent report published by e-commerce aggregator iPrice along with market searchers SimilarWeb and App Annie.
E-commerce growth in Vietnam is expected to be 46 percent, while the gross merchandise volume (GMV) is expected to reach USD 14 billion, or a 16 percent growth year-on-year, according to the e-Conomy Southeast Asia 2020 report by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Company. The country’s internet economy is estimated to reach USD 52 billion in value in 2025, the report added.