Lazada expected to let go up to 30% of staff: sources

Photo credit: Lazada

Southeast Asian ecommerce giant Lazada is expected to let go up to 30% of its staff across different markets, sources familiar with the matter tell Tech in Asia.

Business publication The Edge Singapore first reported the layoffs in Singapore yesterday.

Sources, meanwhile, tell Tech in Asia that Lazada’s Malaysia unit is next, with affected staff to be informed today.

Senior staff from the country are already looking for job opportunities elsewhere, Kuala Lumpur-based company officials tell us.

Tech in Asia understands retrenchments are expected to last throughout the week and will affect staff across all of Lazada’s markets. Departments affected the most are customer care, marketing, and commercial teams.

Lazada’s communication team did not respond to email and text queries from Tech in Asia regarding the matter.

The ecommerce giant’s decision to cut staff comes on the back of a series of departures in its Singapore office. Loh Wee-Lee quit as Lazada Singapore’s CEO last August.

The Edge Singapore reported that Lazada Singapore had been operating without an in-house communications department since last year.

The Straits Times also reported that an earlier round of layoffs was conducted in October last year.

Founded in 2012, Lazada has a presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Chinese tech giant Alibaba acquired the ecommerce platform in 2016 to expand into Southeast Asia.

The retrenchments come amid speculation of Alibaba’s international ecommerce arm, which includes Lazada, seeking to list in the US sometime this year.

See also: Alibaba pours $634m into Lazada as competition heats up