The Boss' Cathy Yang with Lazada co-founder and CEO Inanc Balci.

MANILA - The country’s biggest e-commerce platform Lazada will introduce the first fully automated e-commerce warehouse in the country next year, its operations chief said Monday.

With 83 percent of its shares owned by Jack Ma’s Alibaba, Lazada is transitioning its operations from using traditional to artificial intelligence solutions to optimize operations.

Balci revealed that robots will dominate their warehouses next year.

“We first launched our fully automated warehouse in Malaysia, there are robots there now and this is what we want for the Philippines,” Lazada CEO Inanc Balci told ANC’s The Boss.

“We have to continue our productivity and the robot will be bringing productivity to the people so that we can create a sustainable long term business for Philippines for the years to come,” he added.

Inside Lazada's Cabuyao, Laguna warehouse. Cathy Yang

Artificial intelligence is also unlikely to displace workers since Lazada is now focused on expansion in the country rather than profit. In fact, they might need more hands next year as they implement their expansion plans.

“Hopefully more jobs but definitely not less jobs because business is booming at the moment, we are focusing on growth, that’s why we continue investing,” he said.

Next year, the Cabuyao warehouse will not only be the first fully automated e-commerce plant in the country, but also one of the biggest as it will be extended to 60,000 sqm from 30,000 sqm.

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