Lazada 9.9 Mega Sale Review: Southeast Asian Consumers Are Starting to Seriously Buy “Expensive” Items

In the recent Lazada 9.9 Mega Brands Sale, there was a set of data worth a closer look.

During the campaign, the number of brands reaching $1 million in GMV increased by nearly 10% compared with the 6.6 sale, and the number of brands reaching the $100,000 and $500,000 thresholds also grew in tandem-. But even more noteworthy than brand growth is how consumers spent: orders of $100 and above contributed nearly 60% of total GMV, and the platform's average order value (AOV) rose by nearly 50% year on year.

In other words, Southeast Asian consumers were not just 'hunting for bargains' during the mega sale; they are pushing average order value higher.

Image source: The Manila Times

High-priced orders are no longer a game for only a few

Singaporean consumers stood out the most, with about three-quarters of GMV coming from orders of $100 and above. Thailand and Malaysia also both reached 60%. A few years ago, this figure might have been hard to imagine—Southeast Asian e-commerce had long been labeled 'low-price driven,' and the core logic of mega sales was discounts in exchange for traffic. But the situation has now changed.

Official brand channels became the main beneficiaries of this round of consumption upgrading. Across Southeast Asia, 49% of LazMall orders came from this official brand shopping channel, meaning nearly one out of every two orders was completed through the brand mall. Singapore's LazMall order share reached 78%, Vietnam 76%, and the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand were all close to or above half. Beyond price, consumers are beginning to pay for 'authenticity guarantees' and 'shopping certainty.' This trend is supported by data: the share of sales from authorized brand online stores in Southeast Asia has climbed from 12% in 2020 to 30% in 2025, and about 31% of consumers are willing to pay 10% to 30% more for authenticity guarantees-.

Image source: The Manila Times

Affiliate marketing: the selling power of content creators is expanding

Another change in this mega sale is that the path consumers take to make purchase decisions has changed.

Affiliate channels contributed nearly 30% of overall GMV, and GMV driven by affiliate marketing increased more than 7 times compared with non-mega-sale periods. During the campaign, Lazada placed nearly 4 million high-commission products to support promotion by creators and partners. GMV contributed by affiliate channels grew by more than 15% compared with the 6.6 sale.

Behind this is a shift in how consumers shop. Southeast Asian consumers are increasingly accustomed to discovering products through content creator recommendations rather than relying solely on platform search or price comparison. According to a relevant report, 83% of Southeast Asian consumers have completed a purchase through an affiliate link-. The way brands reach consumers is changing from 'shelves finding people' to 'people bringing people.'

Image source: Internet

AI shopping guides begin to generate actual conversions

LazzieChat's performance in this mega sale is also worth mentioning.

During the campaign, AI-guided interactions in LazzieChat brought in nearly $2.2 million in GMV, up 38% compared with the 6.6 sale. Even more critical is another data point: consumers who used AI features while shopping spent 2.1 times as much per order on average as consumers who did not use AI features.

AI's role in e-commerce is changing from an 'auxiliary tool' to a 'decision-making partner.' Consumers use AI to discover products, compare options, and assist purchase decisions, and orders generated with AI involvement have noticeably higher average order values. Lazada's subsequent 11.11 data also confirms this—the average number of conversations between users and LazzieChat increased by another 14.84% compared with 9.9, and the order conversion rate rose by 13.19%-. This is not a one-time novelty; usage habits are continuing to deepen.

Image source: Internet

The 'substance' of mega sales is increasing

Putting several sets of data together, the message conveyed by the 9.9 mega sale is actually quite clear: Southeast Asian e-commerce is undergoing a structural shift.

Brand-oriented shopping currently accounts for still less than 30% of Southeast Asian e-commerce GMV, and Lazada believes there is still a lot of room for growth-6. E-commerce sales of high-value goods (unit price above $100) are expected to grow by more than 35% year on year in 2025, far higher than the overall e-commerce market's growth rate-33. Southeast Asian consumers' purchasing power is rising, and mega sales are becoming an important window for them to buy high-value goods.

For brands and merchants, this means the strategy for mega sales cannot stop at discounts and volume pushing. Product quality, authenticity guarantees, content reach capability, and the efficiency of using AI tools are together determining whether a brand can achieve quality growth during a mega sale. The growth of million-dollar brands essentially reflects that consumers are willing to spend more on 'things worth buying'—and what platforms need to do is make this process smoother, more trustworthy, and more efficient.