As the new chief executive of major e-marketplace operator Lazada Thailand, Varitha Kiatpinyochai, 32, is the company's youngest homegrown chief executive and the first woman to take the helm.
She outlined her vision for the company's "customer-first" growth in Thailand, which aims to enhance the shopping experience for different generations of customers, increase opportunities for local merchants, and highlight Lazada as an innovation leader, changemaker, and key driver of Thailand's e-commerce ecosystem.
"Throughout my eight years with Lazada, I am proud to have seen how our platform has transformed how [Thai] people shop and how we continue to provide the best shopping experience, to support sellers and to drive Thailand's digital economy," she said.
This deep-seated desire to drive tangible change was possibly what motivated her to join Lazada. Throughout her career at the e-commerce company, she has served as senior vice-president for performance marketing, senior vice-president and category director of fashion, and chief operating officer, before being appointed to chief executive earlier this year.
Having a strong and supportive mother as her first female role model, Ms Varitha grew up with deeply rooted values that served her well when she studied at the London School of Economics, living independently from her family at the young age of 16. Her razor-sharp focus allowed her to thrive academically while also taking on a range of leadership roles within the school and local community.
After graduation, her tenacity and drive powered her career trajectory, from her time in investment banking in the UK to finally deciding to return home to Bangkok to be closer to her family.
"After returning to Bangkok, I spent some time at an NGO with the goal of uplifting the overall education standards in Thailand. It was during my stint there that I gleaned more about my personal motivations and what I want to do next. I realized that I thrive on challenges and want to work on things that deliver real social impact."
"When I learnt about the opportunity at Lazada, I immediately saw the opportunity for me to play an active role to bolster the local SME community and help them leverage the digital economy for success."
One memorable moment she recalled was being part of the team that rolled out Lazada's first 11.11 mega shopping campaign in Southeast Asia –the first double-date sales event by an e-commerce player in the region.
At that time, e-commerce was still in its infancy, so tremendous effort was required to prepare for the campaign from a marketing, technology, infrastructure and commercial perspective. The campaign also highlighted the need to create greater awareness and engagement among buyers and readiness among sellers.
"I gained significant hands-on operational experience during my past roles at Lazada, where I recognised the dynamic needs of our buyers and sellers, identified opportunities to provide them with the best possible experience, and worked with my team to deliver at speed and scale," she said.
Ms Varitha added that her hands-on experience helped her understand how Lazada operates and to connect the dots from both a business and people management perspective, enabling her to help the organization improve working processes and create long-term value.
Her young age also allowed her to understand and connect well with Lazada Thailand's team members, whose average age is only around 27. This helps her foster a shared vision and a clear direction with her teams.
Her ability to roll up her sleeves and keep ears to the ground allows her to stay close to the core business operations. "I believe in people. When talented people are inspired and empowered, they can deliver the best work of their lives," Ms Varitha elaborated. " By reaching out directly to work with employees across different teams and seniority, I was able to gain deeper insights into the business, while also acting as a mentor or big sister to support their personal aspirations and growth."
"Honestly, my career progress has been aided tremendously by Lazada's culture of diversity and how it creates opportunities, empowerment and ownership for all teams. The company also supports staff's career development through their life moments, such as providing opportunities for those returning from maternity leave to raise their hands for key projects. In my case, shortly after returning from my maternity leave, I was appointed to the Thailand CEO role. With such a culture, Lazadians are highly motivated to come up with new ideas and move things quickly," Ms Varitha said.
"I am proud to see my teams' development and growth from those early days, and to see Lazada emerge as a key training ground for talent in the technology industry," said Ms Varitha.
WHAT GROWTH LOOKS LIKE AT LAZADA
Unleashing the Power of Growth
Ms Varitha recognized the positive impact of Lazada on Thailand's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including account managers working closely with local merchants until they are finally ready to launch new products online, with several Thai brands making it to the top 10 brand rankings during the company's mega campaign events.
"We have stood alongside Thai SMEs through times of growth and adversity. During Covid-19, I was greatly touched to receive a note from one local SME thanking our platform for providing him with a channel through which to sell his goods to support his business and family during those difficult times," she said.
Ms Varitha shared that the dynamic evolution of e-commerce over the past 12 years calls for continuous self-development and rapid market innovations.
"My goal as Thailand CEO is to inspire and empower my teams as much as possible, support continuous improvement for us to better meet the needs of customers and sellers, and together drive Thailand's digital economy," said Ms Varitha.
TRANSFORMING FOR THE FUTURE
Earlier this year, Lazada underwent a transformation with the primary goal of creating an organization that is more ready for the future digital economy.
Ms Varitha said that the aim is also to boost the company's agility and speed and leverage the infrastructure technology of parent company Alibaba to deliver new features that better respond to customer and seller needs.
"With a more nimble and flexible organisational structure and by working closely with regional teams and Alibaba, we can leverage a wider technological infrastructure, deepening synergy and sharing market insights to achieve better business outcomes and long-term growth."
Lazada's embrace of Alibaba's artificial intelligence (AI) technology, from product search to personalisation, aims to improve and serve customer experience and also brings tools to sellers, such as real-time business sales analysis.
"Our AI-driven technology can automatically generate promotional banners for the sellers' storefronts based on their product text descriptions, making it easier to sell their products," Ms Varitha added.
CUSTOMER-FIRST APPROACH
"Our mission is to maintain our leadership in the e-commerce sector. Our focus remains on our core strengths as an e-commerce platform, not emerging channels like social commerce," Ms Varitha noted.
Lazada will ensure a wide variety of product assortment and complete product offerings and LazMall will continue to be a strong channel for responding to the market with leading global and local brands that offer authentic, high-quality products, and the best shopping experience, she said.
"In the fourth quarter of this year, we will introduce more exclusive global brands to our LazMall," she added.
She said her priority is to lead the team to align with the company's direction and growth vision.
"With a customer-first approach, the team needs to have an in-depth understanding of what customers are looking for, adapt to changes, and connect the dots to reduce customers' pain points," she said.
Ms Varitha said that in the early days of e-commerce, where there was some lack of trust in online products, Lazada was a pioneer, offering the cash-on-delivery payment method to shoppers.
The company offers a faster refund if buyers are not satisfied with the products they receive. Lazada also offers a free pick-up of returned products at the customer's home, or a preferred drop-off point to make it easier to return products.
"We've also extended the refund period from 15 to 30 days, an approach that works well with fashion products," she added.
ELEVATING THE EXPERIENCE
Ms Varitha said Lazada is a pioneer in bringing new features to enhance the shopping experience. These include a "Put in My Home" feature that allows prospective buyers to assess how furniture items fit in their homes virtually, making it easier for them to make purchasing decisions.
Another feature is "Virtual Try-On", which is based on augmented reality technology that enables shoppers to virtually try on different lipstick colors.
"We will extend this [virtual try-on] technology to the fashion category," Ms Varitha said.
The company is also developing a concierge-like service for frequent shoppers as part of the move to upgrade its customer support service.
She said that in the company's customer satisfaction survey, the three factors that make shoppers choose Lazada are value for money, including low-price guarantee, fast delivery with 90% of orders delivered the next day, and faster refunds.
"In some cases, if shoppers initiate a refund, we return their money even before the product is returned," she added.
She sees Thailand's e-commerce as continuing to grow even amid economic challenges. According to a Google, Temasek and Bain & Co study, the value of the market is expected to maintain 16% growth, reaching US$30 billion, or over 1 trillion baht, by 2025.
Moreover, households with a high level of income are expected to fuel the growth of e-commerce over the next five years.
A Euromonitor report projects the continuous growth of Thai consumers, based on the upper-middle income ($10,000-25,000 per year) and high income (more than $25,000 per year) categories.
EMPOWERING LOCAL SELLERS
Lazada also focuses on broadening opportunities for local businesses. In addition to selling products, it has added flight and accommodation booking services to its platform.
Ms Varitha said that by year-end, Lazada plans to expand export opportunities for local sellers, enabling them to reach customers across Southeast Asia in five of its regional markets.
"We recognise that fashion and beauty are consistently the top-selling categories across Southeast Asia, particularly among young buyers aged 18-24. Leveraging this insight, our teams are incorporating campaigns and activities that are more engaging for younger generations, to better connect them with local and global brands that meet their tastes," she said.
Lazada also continues to provide opportunities to sellers by introducing a range of e-commerce tools to assist them in reaching more customers and growing their business, Ms Varitha added.
"By the end of this year, Lazada plans to expand export opportunities for local sellers, enabling them to reach customers across Southeast Asia in five of our regional markets. We foresee that this move will drastically reduce the barrier of entry into overseas markets and increase sellers' revenue."
Moreover, it has introduced a sponsored media programme that allows Lazada's sellers to market products outside its platform.
Lazada has collaborated with Meta to introduce "Lazada Sponsored Media", a comprehensive solution designed to empower businesses to amplify their reach and drive sales. This tool lets sellers integrate their marketing campaigns with Meta's advertising platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network.
Ms Varitha added that Lazada is committed to driving the sustainable growth of Thai businesses by equipping its sellers with tools, knowledge, and new skills and campaigns, which contributed to a 121% average growth in the gross merchandise value of its small sellers from early 2023 to June 2024.
"As Lazada defines the next era of e-commerce, the focus will be on creating real value to sellers, shoppers, and partners. This means investing in the long game, putting our resources into initiatives and innovations that generate customer-centric outcomes and win-win scenarios for the entire ecosystem."
