How to Become a Seller on Malaysia's Most Popular E-Commerce Platform

E-commerce has been booming in Malaysia since the mid-2000s. As a Malaysian entrepreneur, it’s no surprise if you want to be part of that boom — and that means you’re probably thinking about setting up a seller’s account on Lazada, Malaysia’s largest e-commerce site. Fortunately, Lazada makes it easy to get started as a seller and provides plenty of helpful tools to use with your account.

The Reach of Lazada

Lazada is the largest e-commerce site in Malaysia by far, with numbers that are double those of Shopee, the company’s closest competitor. More than 29 million visitors click over to Lazada every month, and the company has more fans on Facebook than any other Malaysian shopping sites. Lazada continues to grow, with big increases in traffic and sales.

Mobile shopping is hot in Southeast Asia, in part because locals spend 3.6 hours a day on their mobile devices, more than in any other region of the world. Lazada’s mobile app is also the most visited e-commerce app, though Shopee started gaining ground in late 2017.

How to Set Up Your Lazada Seller Account

Setting up a seller’s account on Lazada is easy. As a prospective seller, you’re asked to provide basic contact information as well as information about the type of shop you want to open and the name of the shop. Next, you list your products, using the platform’s Store Builder app to make your pages appealing and start to build customer engagement. Although you don’t have to sign a contract, you do have provide business documentation to Lazada when you receive your first order. This documentation includes:

• Your Business Registration Certificate (SSM) or Business Owner Identification (NRIC), depending on the type of seller you are
• Your list of directors (included on the SSM if you provided it)
• A bank statement
• A GST letter, if applicable

Tools to Help Your Lazada Seller Account Thrive

Lazada provides dozens of tools and tutorials to help you build a successful e-commerce account. The Store Builder app provides templates to make your page more attractive and to differentiate from the pages of your competitors. You can also drive traffic to your page by using Seller Vouchers. These are, in essence, digital coupons that you can offer to attract customers to your page. Some vouchers offer a discount on specific products that you choose, or you can opt for vouchers that apply a discount to a shopper’s entire order at the time of checkout.

Other tools make it easy to upload new products to your e-commerce page, either one at a time or in bulk. You can also bundle items together so that you customers can buy a single item in bulk or a group of related items in one easy purchase. Tools designed to increase conversion rate and boost sales volume include a buy-one-get-one-free offer and a free-gift offer. You can also facilitate communication with customers through a tool that allows conversation about your products right on each product page.

Even if you have your own e-commerce website, selling products on a widely used platform such as Lazada allows you to connect with a much larger audience, and its helpful tools let you focus on running your business instead of on web design.