Lazada Singapore names new CMO

Lazada Singapore has elevated Michelle Yip (pictured) to the role of chief marketing officer, shortly after Jean Thomas left to join Pomelo. Yip last helmed the position of executive vice president, platform governance and seller engagement with Lazada, responsible for increasing seller quality and building seller communities and support ecosystems.She has been with the Alibaba-owned eCommerce company since May 2015, first joining as regional category director - home category. She was the direct category lead for home appliances and home living category across Southeast Asia, and scaled her way up to senior vice president of customer experience a year later. Yip also forged partnerships with brands such as Tefal and 3M and brought the brands onboard the Lazada platform.Sharing her vision for Lazada Singapore, Yip told Marketing exclusively that the eCommerce company will continue to focus on supporting the growth of key business pillars such as RedMart and LazMall. Besides investing in infrastructure and technology to power this growth, she added that Lazada aims to expand the team, and invest in the "right people". Currently, Lazada is on the lookout for a branding lead, senior CRM manager as well as a head of performance steering.As the economy and consumers’ behaviours continue to evolve at breakneck speed, Yip was of the view that marketers need to constantly adapt and upskill to better cater to these changing dynamics. Today, it has become essential for marketers to have a digital mindset and be able to understand and use data effectively to achieve the "best" marketing ROI for the business, she said, adding that it is also important for marketers to understand what exactly they bring to the table."From one individual to the next, the key differentiating factor is really about being able to think out of the box, and the best marketing teams all possess a variety of talents, skillsets and experience to drive innovation and stay ahead of the competition," she said.Prior to joining Lazada, Yip was the senior marketing manager at electronics company Philips. Previously she held lead marketing roles at Samsung Electronics for the telecommunications and smartphone category. She worked in both Hong Kong and South Korea, coming up with online strategy and being a part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics marketing campaign.