Lazada appoints a new CEO

Alibaba’s Lazada has named Chun Li as its new group chief executive officer, taking over from current CEO Pierre Poignant.

Li has been described as the “chief architect” behind Lazada’s technology platform and organizational transformation in 2017. He became its Indonesia CEO in July 2019. Before joining Lazada, he was the chief technology officer of Alibaba’s business-to-business unit.

“Chun is an experienced business leader who can realize Lazada’s vision of unifying commerce with technology to advance Southeast Asia’s digital economy,” said Lucy Peng, Lazada group chairwoman. Peng herself briefly took on the role of Lazada CEO in 2018.

Newly appointed Lazada Group CEO, Chun Li / Photo credit: Lazada Group

Poignant is stepping down after just a year and seven months in the Lazada hot seat. In a C-suite switch-up, he’s set to become a special assistant to Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group’s chairman and CEO.

“Under Pierre’s leadership, Lazada has delivered healthy growth over the past two years,” said Peng in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to Pierre for his invaluable contributions in building the solid foundation for Lazada’s long-term sustainable success.”

Lazada Logistics CEO James Sullivan has also stepped down. His stint ended in April this year, as stated in his Linkedin profile.

The announcement comes amid constant changes and internal unhappiness toward Lazada’s management, as Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported separately.

In a company email obtained by Tech in Asia from an anonymous source, Peng said that Lazada “delivered excellent results” in the first quarter of its new fiscal year.

Shopee and Lazada have been locked in a battle to be Southeast Asia’s leading ecommerce marketplace. While Lazada has grown its user base, Shopee pulled ahead in terms of monthly active users in the middle of last year, according to estimates from an industry source.

In a statement, Lazada said it has served over 70 million unique consumers in six countries for the 12 months that ended on March 31, 2020. The company added that it gained market share in Indonesia. During the same period, its orders in the country grew over 170% year-on-year, outpacing the competition.

Here’s Peng’s email in full:

The first quarter of our new fiscal year is coming to an end. Thank you for your fighting spirit and unwavering focus on creating value for our merchants, partners and consumers. Together, we have delivered excellent results.

In order to embrace the future, we must continually recalibrate our organization to meet the ever-changing business landscape and needs of customers. Today, I am pleased to announce that Chun Li will succeed Pierre Poignant as the new Group CEO of Lazada, with effect on 1 July.