Lazada's websites started out three years ago as inventory-based direct retailers--thus,"the Amazon of Southeast Asia" moniker. In the past year, though, the switch to a primarily "marketplace" business model was the most significant driver of revenue growth, accounting for about 70% of Lazada's monthly sales as of November last year.
* Rocket Internet – First Mover In Asia?—Forbes
So back to the "market leader" thing. The prospectus reiterates that many Rocket sites are market leaders but never defines the term. Jabong is pulling impressive user traffic in India—almost 2 million visits per day, as the data above from SimilarWeb show. But that number is nowhere near Flipkart's daily average of 2.45 million.
* Rocket’s Asian Ups and Downs—Forbes Asia
By Susan J. Cunningham Forbes Asia Philippine Long-Distance Telephone's 8.6% stake in Rocket Internet is a no-brainer: Telecom and Internet giant PLDT is a pioneer in online and mobile payments, and Rocket’s own payment system, Payleven, quickly foundered in 2012 when the first Rocket e-commerce sites were being established in Asia. For many poorer residents... Continue Reading →
* Keeping Up With Rocket’s Southeast Asian Adventures
Rocket’s founders, the three German Samwer brothers, still have a reputation as cloners, flippers and operators of grueling, ruthless workplaces with high staff churn. Rocket executives readily acknowledge that their sites are copycats, usually of sites pioneered in the U.S. ...
Susan J Cunningham 