Lazada, Mastercard in 5-year partnership to develop e-commerce ecosystem in S-E Asia

ALIBABA-backed Lazada, and payments stalwart Mastercard have inked a five-year partnership to work together to grow the e-commerce ecosystem in South-east Asia, they said in a joint release on Friday.

The companies hope that the collaboration will enable Lazada to serve brands and sellers on its platform better and build Mastercard's user base in the region. Merchants are also able to benefit from Mastercard's solutions.

To grow the e-commerce ecosystem, Lazada and Mastercard will develop marketing and education campaigns that are aimed at increasing consumer confidence and incentivising the use of digital payment methods through reward schemes.

Lazada will also be able to access Mastercard's regional and global sponsorship platforms and will be the anchor merchant for a number of new Mastercard solutions in select markets.

"Mastercard's data-driven insights will combine offline and online behaviours to help Lazada understand how to drive greater e-commerce growth within the growing base of Internet-savvy and mobile consumers in the region," the companies added.