Alibaba Reportedly to Inject Grab, Lazada Collaborates with OVO

Grab and OVO collaborate with Lazada during the national online shopping day (harbolnas) or 12.12. This collaboration occurred when Lazada investor, Alibaba, was reportedly going to invest in Grab. A trusted source who is aware of the investment said that Alibaba plans to integrate Grab’s delivery network service with Lazada.

A number of investors in Southeast Asia think that Lazada has the potential to provide new services if the investment is realized. Although there has been no confirmation regarding the investment news, Grab and Lazada established a partnership in Vietnam last November (10/11). Now, Grab and OVO are partnering with e-commerce from Singapore in Indonesia.

Lazada is partnering with OVO to make it easy for its users to make non-cash transactions. This OVO payment option is available on Lazada starting December 8, 2020. OVO’s Head of Corporate Communications, Harumi Supit, welcomes the collaboration with Lazada.

Meanwhile, OVO Head of Corporate Communications Harumi Supit said OVO payment services were available on the Lazada platform since last Wednesday (8/12). “This marks the widening of the OVO open ecosystem,” she said, quoted in a press release, Thursday (9/12).

To Increase Users’ Shopping Experience

According to him, this collaboration can encourage the progress of Indonesia’s digital economy. “OVO is proud to welcome the collaboration with Lazada, as one of the largest e-commerce sites in Southeast Asia. Our open ecosystem strategy is uniquely positioned to better serve Indonesia, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Harumi as quoted from a press release on Wednesday (9/12/2020) as saying.

Harumi believes, currently, the trend of shifting transactions towards digital and online sales continues to increase. That way, according to him, this moment can be used to continue to establish strategic collaborations with various other partners to maintain economic stability while supporting the transition from offline to online transactions.

He stated that the concept was successful in making OVO more widely used by consumers. “We see the trend of shifting transactions towards digital and online sales continue to increase. So, we continue to establish strategic collaborations with various partners,” he said.

Lazada Indonesia’s Chief Marketing Officer Monika Rudijono added that the cooperation strengthens payment options on the platform. “Every consumer shopping through a digital ecosystem such as e-commerce will contribute to the growth of local businesses and the movement of the Indonesian economy,” he said.

With the presence of OVO on the Lazada platform, users are expected to get a more practical and enjoyable shopping experience.

OVO Was First on Tokopedia

Apart from Lazada, OVO was first present on Tokopedia. Grab and Tokopedia are OVO investors based on CB Insights data. Data from Crunchbase also shows that Gojek’s competitor entered OVO in September 2019. Mochtar Riady, Lippo Group owner and founder, said that he had sold two-thirds of the shares in OVO two months later.

On the one hand, Alibaba Group Holdings is said to be interested in investing in Grab. The boss of the Singapore-based venture builder company Momentum Works, Li Jianggan, said that Grab was similar to Alibaba’s competitor in China, Meituan.

The Singapore Decacorn provides food delivery and logistics services in the region. In addition, it has entered the financial market through Grab Financial. “What Grab has to offer complements Alibaba’s focus area, in the e-commerce and financial technology (fintech) business,” he was quoted as saying by ChannelNewsAsia, last September (23/9).

He considered Grab very well suited to what Alibaba wants, namely an on-demand logistics infrastructure, regional knowledge, and a well-established partner network in every country in Southeast Asia. Strategically, he thinks it makes sense for Alibaba to invest in Grab. Moreover, SoftBank, one of Grb’s biggest investor, has a stake in Alibaba.