Online shopping has become second nature for Filipinos today. We buy everything from groceries and gadgets to clothes and appliances with just a few taps on our phones. But a little over a decade ago, that wasn’t the case at all. E-commerce felt impossible in the Philippines — slow internet, complicated logistics, and our deep-rooted preference for cash made it seem like online shopping could never truly work here. That’s what makes Lazada’s story so remarkable. In just over ten years, it changed how millions of Filipinos shop and reshaped the country’s retail landscape.
Before Lazada arrived, online shopping in the Philippines was more of a dream than a daily habit. Back in 2010, the idea of buying everything you needed online and having it delivered to your door felt distant and unrealistic for most Filipinos. We knew it was possible in countries like the United States, but it seemed like something that was still years away from becoming a reality here.
There were three big reasons for that. First, internet speed. In the United States, fast and reliable internet helped e-commerce platforms like Amazon flourish. In the Philippines, our internet connection was among the slowest in the world. Loading a product page could take minutes, and payment gateways often failed midway through a transaction. That alone made online shopping feel like more trouble than it was worth.
Second, geography. The US is one massive landmass, which makes logistics and same-day delivery relatively straightforward. The Philippines is an archipelago made up of over 7,640 islands. Delivering a product from one island to another, or even from one city to another, was complicated, expensive, and slow. Many believed that a local version of Amazon could never thrive here because of how fragmented the country is.
And third, payment behavior. Filipinos have always preferred using cash. Even as late as 2012, eight out of ten Filipinos didn’t have a bank account. Credit card ownership was low, and online payments were rare. People were deeply skeptical about paying for something they couldn’t touch or see first. “What if I pay and the item never arrives?” was a common concern. Online sellers had a reputation for scams, fake products, and poor service. In short, trust in e-commerce was almost nonexistent.
Because of all this, shopping remained an in-person experience. Filipinos liked going to malls, seeing products up close, and handing over cash only when the item was in their hands. It wasn’t just a habit — it was a cultural preference rooted in caution and practicality.
Yet, despite all these challenges, a company would soon attempt what many thought was impossible: to bring large-scale e-commerce to Southeast Asia and transform the way Filipinos shop. That company was Lazada.
To understand how Lazada was born, we need to start with Rocket Internet — a Berlin-based tech company run by three brothers: Alexander, Peter, and Oliver Samwer. The Samwer brothers were known for one thing: execution. They weren’t focused on inventing brand-new ideas. Instead, their strategy was to look at successful business models in one part of the world and launch them in markets where they didn’t yet exist.
Their first big success came in 1999 when they created Alando, essentially a German version of eBay. They even pitched eBay the idea of letting them run a local version in Germany, but eBay declined. So the Samwers built Alando themselves. Within 100 days, it became so successful that eBay acquired it for $43 million. That win convinced the brothers they were on to something.
They went on to launch Rocket Internet in 2007, a company that became known for building fast-moving startups based on proven models. Critics called them a “startup clone factory” because they often recreated existing platforms for new markets. They built CityDeal, a Groupon-style deals site that Groupon eventually acquired. They launched Plinga, inspired by Zynga’s gaming model, which Zynga also acquired. They even created Wimdu, their version of Airbnb, and Pinspire, a Pinterest-style platform. The approach wasn’t always original, but it worked.
Rocket Internet operated differently from traditional venture capital firms. Instead of passively funding founders with ideas, they identified opportunities themselves, built the concepts, and then hired people to run them. These people — often young, ambitious graduates with consulting backgrounds from firms like McKinsey — were treated more like executives than founders. Rocket Internet managed operations closely and had a playbook for everything, from launching products to scaling teams.
This approach gave Rocket Internet significant advantages. Because they launched multiple startups under one umbrella, they could share resources, reduce costs, and apply lessons learned from one venture to another. Their speed and operational discipline allowed them to scale quickly in markets that global tech giants often overlooked.
In 2011, they spotted their next big opportunity. Southeast Asia was an untapped market for e-commerce. Despite the region’s fragmented geography and logistical hurdles, it had hundreds of millions of potential customers. Rocket Internet saw a gap: there was no “Amazon of Southeast Asia.” And they believed they could build it.
With that vision, they set out to create an online shopping platform tailored to the realities of the region. They hired Maximilian Bittner, a former McKinsey consultant, to lead the charge. Bittner was tasked with launching Lazada simultaneously in six markets — the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore. It was an ambitious plan: build the region’s first large-scale e-commerce platform from the ground up and teach millions of people, including Filipinos, to shop online.
Lazada launched in 2012. At first, it sold products directly from its own inventory, acting as the retailer rather than a marketplace. But this was just the beginning. The company knew that to succeed in the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia, it would have to solve two massive problems: payment and logistics.
When Lazada entered the Philippine market, they faced two massive barriers: payments and logistics.
The lack of credit card use and trust in online transactions was one of the biggest obstacles. Filipinos wanted to pay cash on delivery and inspect their items first before handing over money.
Lazada embraced this reality. In 2012, they introduced Cash on Delivery (COD) — a simple but revolutionary move that removed the biggest psychological barrier for Filipino shoppers.
They also made returns and refunds easy, addressing fears about online scams and product quality. One lesson they learned early: many returns happened because product descriptions were vague or misleading. So Lazada tightened product listings to better manage customer expectations.
COD didn’t just change customer behavior — it forced the entire logistics industry to evolve. Couriers like LBC, which had never accepted COD before, had to adapt or risk being left behind.
The Philippines’ geography made e-commerce logistics extremely challenging. Delivering across 7,600+ islands wasn’t just difficult — it was expensive.
Lazada decided to build its own infrastructure. In 2013, they opened automated sortation centers in Taguig to process deliveries faster. They expanded to three major hubs nationwide and, in 2015, launched a 2,500-square-meter warehouse in Mandaue, Cebu to speed up deliveries in the Visayas.
They also went the extra mile for customers. One viral story from 2016 involved a buyer without a permanent address who simply left directions instead. Lazada still delivered. These small gestures built massive trust and loyalty.
All of this required huge investment. Luckily, Lazada had access to serious funding — and soon, even bigger players would take notice.
Lazada quickly caught the attention of global investors. In 2013, they raised $100 million from Kinnevik Investment AB, followed by a $250 million investment led by Tesco, and another $200 million from Temasek, Singapore’s state-owned fund.
Temasek was also a major investor in Alibaba, China’s e-commerce giant. Alibaba had already conquered its home market and was now looking to expand into Southeast Asia. Instead of building from scratch, Alibaba wanted to invest in companies that were already leading their markets.
Lazada was the perfect target. In 2016, Alibaba acquired a 51% controlling stake in Lazada for about $1 billion, and increased its stake to 83% in 2017 with another $1 billion investment.
This partnership brought more than just money. Alibaba shared its technology, logistics expertise, and global network, transforming Lazada’s operations. Its logistics arm Cainiao helped cut delivery times to as little as three days for cross-border orders. Lazada also rebranded its delivery network as Lazada Logistics, expanding to over 400 facilities across Southeast Asia.
But the acquisition also came with challenges. Alibaba installed new leadership and systems, which temporarily slowed Lazada down — just as Shopee was ramping up its hypergrowth. That shift deserves its own deep dive, but it marked a key turning point in the e-commerce race.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 changed everything. For years, some Filipinos resisted online shopping. But lockdowns left them no choice. Even the most skeptical shoppers had to buy online — and once they did, most never looked back.
Lazada’s sales skyrocketed 250% in 2020. The company also launched the “Bounce Back Together” program, a ₱100 million stimulus to help over 7,000 SMEs bring their businesses online during the pandemic.
The pandemic didn’t just boost Lazada’s sales. It shifted Filipino buying habits permanently. Online shopping became part of daily life.
Lazada wasn’t content with just being a digital mall. In 2021, it launched LazLive, an in-app live streaming feature that introduced Filipinos to “shoppertainment.”
Shoppertainment combines entertainment with e-commerce. Shoppers can watch influencers demo products, join live games, and interact in real time — all while buying directly from the stream. LazLive attracted over 27 million viewers, showing how powerful interactive shopping could be.
Lazada also launched LazTalent, a program where content creators promote products and earn commissions. It’s a win-win: influencers get new income streams, and Lazada taps into their audiences.
Meanwhile, LazMall, launched in 2018, became Southeast Asia’s largest virtual mall, with over 18,000 official brand stores. It reassured Filipino shoppers about product authenticity — one of their biggest early concerns.
Lazada even introduced Lazada for Good, the first in-app donation platform by an e-commerce company in the Philippines. Users can support over 27 NGOs directly through the app.
Lazada has always invested heavily in advertising. It started with massive ad campaigns on Facebook and Google, but later shifted to celebrity-driven promotions.
In 2020, they tapped Lee Min Ho as their regional brand ambassador and paired him with Kathryn Bernardo in the Philippines. Other markets had their own stars, like Chi Pu in Vietnam and Bella Ranee Campen in Thailand. In 2021, Hyun Bin and Bea Alonzo headlined campaigns for LazMall.
This mix of global icons and local celebrities created massive buzz around events like the annual 11.11 sale, one of the biggest shopping festivals in the region.
Today, Lazada operates across six countries and serves over 150 million active users. It continues to evolve with new features, faster delivery, and better shopping experiences.
Some fun facts about Lazada in the Philippines:
While Shopee currently leads in market share, the race is far from over. Lazada pioneered many of the features Filipinos now expect from e-commerce — from Cash on Delivery to authentic brand stores — and it’s still one of the most trusted online marketplaces in the Philippines.
Lazada didn’t just build an online store. It changed how Filipinos think about shopping. It turned skepticism into trust, inconvenience into convenience, and hesitation into habit.
From its Rocket Internet origins to its Alibaba-powered future, Lazada is more than just a platform. It’s a story of how one company taught millions of Filipinos to embrace the digital economy — and transformed the way we shop forever.
