Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada has appointed Chun Li as its new CEO.

Li will succeed former CEO Pierre Poignant, who will head to Alibaba Group as special assistant to its CEO Daniel Zhang.

“Chun is an experienced business leader who can realise Lazada’s vision of unifying commerce with technology to advance Southeast Asia’s digital economy,” said Lucy Peng, chairwoman at Lazada Group.

With technology-architecture and product-strategy backgrounds, Chun Li will ensure Lazada’s competitive advantage through data technology application and business localisation across the region, according to the company.

“Lazada’s priority is to create unique value for our consumers and merchants in Southeast Asia,” said Li. “There is incredible momentum for e-commerce across the region, and together with our strong local talents, we will step up Lazada’s digital innovation and commercial development to empower our customers to be successful and provide the best user experience for our consumers.”

Li joined Alibaba Group as chief technology officer for the group’s B2B unit in 2014. He has served as both Lazada president and CEO of Lazada Indonesia since 2017.