E-commerce giant Lazada Group today announced that Chun Li will succeed Pierre Poignant as CEO, effective immediately. With the move the company gears up for the next phase of growth, marked by an accelerating digitalization in the region.
“Chun is an experienced business leader who can realize Lazada’s vision of unifying commerce with technology, to advance Southeast Asia’s digital economy,” said Lazada Group chairwoman Lucy Peng.
Li started his career with Alibaba Group in 2014, as chief technology officer for the company’s B2B unit. He was appointed co-president of Lazada in 2017 and CEO of Lazada Indonesia in July 2019.
“There is incredible momentum for e-commerce across the region, and together with our strong local talents, we will step up Lazada’s digital innovation and commercial development,” said Li.
As for Poignant, he will be serving as a special assistant to Alibaba Group chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang. In 2016, Alibaba acquired Lazada to support the Chinese giant’s international expansion.
Lazada, one of the top shopping platforms in Singapore, says it served more than 70 million consumers in six countries across Southeast Asia over the past twelve months ending March 31. In the same period, Lazada Indonesia’s orders grew more than 170%. The company is facing a tough competition with other players such as Shopee, which is backed by Alibaba’s rival Tencent.
