Unilever has signed an agreement with Alibaba-owned Lazada to build the industry’s first end-to-end alliance in the Southeast Asia region. The two companies will work closely together on category development, supply chain and fulfilment, data and marketing, social commerce and talent development.

The alliance aims to provide solutions to the challenges of trading online specific to this region, such as high delivery costs as well as offer a wide range of products, educational content and excellent customer service to shoppers.

“Ecommerce is the fastest growing channel in Southeast Asia making it vital for us to find innovative ways to address the needs of our consumers, allowing them to shop when and where they want. We believe this pioneering partnership will set new standards in customer experience, supply chain and digital marketing, helping our brands reach more consumers across Southeast Asia”, said Pier Luigi Sigismondi, President, Unilever – Southeast Asia and Australasia.

“This partnership is a game changer for Lazada as it endorses our one-stop platform strategy to support the online development of top brands like Unilever,” said Maximilian Bittner, CEO of Lazada Group. “Having the commitment of Unilever will also greatly benefit the ecosystem of partners that support our platform,” he added.