E-commerce platform Lazada has published its research report on online sellers in Southeast Asia to examine AI adoption trends, challenges, and opportunities — shedding light on sellers’ readiness to integrate AI into their operations
Developed in collaboration with Kantar, the report surveyed 1,214 e-commerce sellers across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The research revealed that online sellers in Southeast Asia show strong familiarity of AI, with nearly seven in 10 sellers (68%) indicating that they are aware of AI.
Sellers believe they have integrated AI into 47% of their business operations, even though actual adoption stands only at 37%, highlighting a clear gap between perceived and actual AI adoption.
Online sellers face a dilemma in terms of assessing AI efficacy and its cost implications. While 89% acknowledge AI’s role in boosting productivity, almost two-third (61%) remain skeptical about its overall usefulness.
Furthermore, although nearly all sellers (93%) agree that AI can drive long-term cost savings, 64% cited costliness and time-consuming implementation as barriers to adoption.
The research also suggested an implementation gap, where sellers understand the importance of AI but struggle with effective deployment.
Highlighting the challenge of transitioning from familiar, manual processes to AI-driven solutions, nearly all sellers (93%) agree that it is important to upskill the workforce to use AI so that they can be more productive, yet 3 out of 4 sellers (75%) also concede that their employees still prefer to use tools they are familiar with, rather than new AI solutions.
AI-readiness level varies across markets
Across the region, Indonesia and Vietnam lead with 42% AI adoption across business functions, while Singapore and Thailand follow closely at 39%.
Based on the level of AI adoption across five core aspects of operations of a seller’s business, namely operations and logistics, product management, marketing and advertising, customer service, and workforce management, the report identified three distinct seller archetypes – AI Adepts, AI Aspirants, and AI Agnostics, based on the average score they attained in each aspect of operations to represent their readiness level to embrace AI:
- AI Adepts: Sellers who have integrated AI across at least 80% of their operations, placing them at the forefront of adoption. In Southeast Asia, only 1 in 4 (24%) sellers belong to this category.
- AI Aspirants: Sellers who have partially integrated AI into their operations, but still face adoption gaps across key functions. 50% of sellers in Southeast Asia belong to this category.
- AI Agnostics: Comprising the remaining 26% of surveyed sellers in Southeast Asia, this group lags in AI adoption, with most business functions still handled manually.
Findings indicate that Thailand has the highest share of AI Adepts, with 30% of sellers in this category. Singapore (29%), Indonesia (29%), and Vietnam (22%) also demonstrate strong AI implementation despite knowledge gaps, while Malaysia (15%) and the Philippines (19%) face challenges related to internal buy-in and infrastructure limitations.
With the majority of Southeast Asian sellers (76%) falling within the AI Aspirants and AI Agnostics categories, they are actively seeking more effective AI-powered solutions, with high demand for AI-powered tools (42%) and enhanced seller support (41%).
“The findings from our research reveal a fascinating gap in Southeast Asia’s e-commerce ecosystem. While most sellers understand AI’s transformative potential, many are still navigating the path from recognition to implementation,” said James Dong, chief executive officer of the Lazada Group.
To support sellers in their AI adoption journey, Lazada said it is launching the Online Sellers Artificial Intelligence Readiness Playbook, designed to provide strategic guidance based on sellers’ AI maturity levels.
The research revealed that sellers are already leveraging key AI-driven solutions on Lazada’s platform to enhance their efficiency.
With 67% of sellers expressing strong satisfaction in existing Lazada AI features, Lazada is also releasing new Generative AI (GenAI) features that are designed to empower sellers and enhance their product listings, streamline operations, and boost customer conversions.
