Hi there, its Khamila from Jakarta.
While WeChat’s position as Asia’s super-app pioneer is undebatable, other apps are following suit, embedding themselves deeply in people’s daily lives with services from online shopping to food delivery, to mobile payments, and more.
As the first official tech decacorn in Southeast Asia, Grab is eager to live up to its super-app ambitions. Earlier this week, it announced a suite of new payments features which include helpful financial services for micro, small and medium enterprise owners in the region.
Grab’s mobile payment partner in Indonesia, Ovo, is also branching out into financial services by partnering with local online mutual funds marketplace Bareksa. The Lippo-Group backed e-wallet platform aims to extend loans and credits to shoppers and merchants in its ecosystem through a partnership with other fintech companies and its acquisition of P2P lender Taralite.
E-commerce giant Lazada is about to celebrate its seventh anniversary. On this occasion the firm announced several innovations for LazMall, its platform for higher-value brands, including new tech tool that allows sellers to customise their virtual storefront to reflect their brand image. Moreover, LazMall’s enhanced Marketing Solutions Package and Business Advisor Dashboard can help sellers to make more efficient and effective decisions.
Lazada will also launch a live streaming feature planning to broadcast for the first time at its anniversary concert in Jakarta on March 26th. The company calls this ‘shoppertainment’, a concept where customers can shopping online while enjoying a wide array of entertainment options within the same platform.
In short, Lazada and LazMall are becoming more like its Chinese cousins Taobao and TMall. However, it’s new to Southeast Asian customers and sellers. Platforms are starting to offer one-stop entertainment and lifestyle services in one app. Case in point: Grab integrated a video streaming feature on its app through collaboration with on-demand video provider Hooq.
Stories you shouldn’t miss this week:
Southeast Asia
Beauty on the go: People of the Digital Economy
Indonesia released new regulations for on-demand motorcycles, but without agreement on tariffs
Ant Financial-backed Indonesian online lender Akulaku injects $35.4m into a local bank
Vietnamese ride-hailing company FastGo coasts into Singapore
UNDP partners with Alibaba-backed logistics provider to boost Cambodia’s e-commerce sector
China
ByteDance shifts attention to live broadcasting business with its new centralised platform
Tencent-backed Kwai launches a new app to go after Douyin’s core users
Alibaba launches $300m reward scheme for mini-programmes
Tencent games turning to overseas market, says company president
Social commerce platform Yunji to go public on Nasdaq