Lazada, a prominent e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, has released its research report on online merchants, Bridging the AI Gap: Online Seller Perceptions and Adoption Trends in SEA. Created in partnership with Kantar, the analysis surveyed 1,214 eCommerce merchants across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam to explore AI adoption trends, obstacles, and opportunities — highlighting sellers’ preparedness to incorporate AI into their operations.
Knowledge, perception and execution gap evident among online sellers
The study indicates that online merchants in Southeast Asia exhibit significant awareness of AI, with almost seven out of ten sellers (68%) stating they are informed about AI. Sellers believe they have embedded AI in 47% of their business processes, despite the actual adoption rate being only 37%, emphasizing a noticeable discrepancy between perceived and actual AI uptake.
Online merchants encounter a conundrum regarding evaluating AI effectiveness and its financial implications. While 89% recognize AI’s contribution to increasing productivity, nearly two-thirds (61%) question its overall utility. Additionally, although almost all merchants (93%) concur that AI can offer long-term cost efficiencies, 64% cite high costs and lengthy implementation as obstacles to adoption.
The study further indicates an implementation gap, where merchants acknowledge the importance of AI but struggle with its effective application. Emphasizing the challenge of moving from well-known, manual methods to AI-driven alternatives, nearly all sellers (93%) agree on the necessity of upskilling the workforce to utilize AI for greater productivity; however, three out of four sellers (75%) admit that their staff still prefers familiar tools over new AI options.
AI-readiness level varies across regions
In the region, Indonesia and Vietnam lead with 42% AI integration across business functions, while Singapore and Thailand closely follow, each at 39%. Based on the degree of AI integration across five critical operational aspects of a seller’s business — operations and logistics, product management, marketing and advertising, customer service, and workforce management — the report distinguishes three specific seller archetypes: AI Adepts, AI Aspirants, and AI Agnostics1, based on their average scores in each operational aspect indicating their readiness to adopt AI:
- AI Adepts: Sellers who have adopted AI in at least 80% of their processes, positioning them at the forefront of integration. In Southeast Asia, merely 1 in 4 (24%) merchants fall into this category.
- AI Aspirants: Merchants who have partially adopted AI into their processes yet still experience gaps in adoption across essential functions. 50% of sellers in Southeast Asia are classified in this category.
- AI Agnostics: Making up the remaining 26% of surveyed sellers in Southeast Asia, this segment is behind in AI integration, with the majority of business functions still conducted manually.
Results show that Thailand boasts the largest share of AI Adepts, with 30% of sellers in this group. Singapore (29%), Indonesia (29%), and Vietnam (22%) also show robust AI implementation despite existing knowledge gaps, while Malaysia (15%) and the Philippines (19%) face challenges regarding internal support and infrastructure limitations. With a significant portion of Southeast Asian sellers (76%) categorized as AI Aspirants and AI Agnostics, they are actively searching for more effective AI-driven solutions, with substantial demand for AI-powered tools (42%) and improved seller support (41%).
“The insights from our research highlight a compelling gap within Southeast Asia’s eCommerce landscape. While the majority of sellers recognize AI’s transformative potential, many are still navigating the journey from acknowledgment to application,” stated James Dong, Chief Executive Officer, Lazada Group. “As a prominent eCommerce platform in Southeast Asia, we strive to close the knowledge and adoption gap by creating accessible AI solutions tailored to the unique challenges encountered by sellers across various markets, ultimately rendering technology more attainable and fostering sustainable business growth irrespective of a seller’s size or technical capacity.”
Utilizing Lazada’s AI-enhanced solutions to revolutionize business operations
To assist sellers in their AI adoption journey, Lazada is unveiling the Online Sellers Artificial Intelligence Readiness Playbook, crafted to offer strategic guidance according to sellers’ AI maturity levels. The study shows that sellers are already utilizing essential AI-driven features on Lazada’s platform to improve their efficiency, affirming Lazada’s ongoing investments in leading-edge AI technology and advanced tools that streamline e-commerce operations and enhance competitiveness.
With 67% of sellers indicating strong satisfaction with the existing Lazada AI features2, Lazada is also introducing new Generative AI (GenAI) functionalities designed to empower sellers and enhance their product listings, optimize operations, and increase customer conversions, such as:
- AI Smart Product Optimization: Leveraging GenAI, this tool assists sellers in identifying potential improvements to their product titles, descriptions, or even images. It facilitates automated virtual try-ons, backdrop alterations, and model adjustments, enabling sellers to create professional product visuals swiftly within minutes.
- AI-Powered Translations: This feature automatically translates product information into various local languages, allowing sellers to broaden their reach across diverse markets effectively and with precision.
- Lazzie Seller: An AI assistant integrated within the Alibaba Seller Centre (ASC), offering immediate answers to common inquiries, swift navigation to essential features, store risk evaluations, and business insights to enhance seller efficiency and expansion.
To discover more, download the Online Sellers Artificial Intelligence Readiness Playbook to understand how these solutions can provide a structured framework for sellers to integrate AI into their workflows, fostering growth, efficiency, and innovation in an ever-changing eCommerce environment.
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