Lazada’s automatic conversion of sellers’ Sponsored Discovery ad campaigns to its newer Sponsored Max format ran from September 19 to 30, 2026, per Lazada Sponsored Solutions, its official ads hub, and that window has now closed. A separate change, effective September 22, also altered how Lazada ranks products running in both Sponsored Max types. Neither needed a click from sellers, but both can still shift ad spend and order traffic reaching a shop’s chat inbox without an obvious cause.
What changed
Sponsored Discovery – Automated became Sponsored Max – Store, and Promoted Specific Products became Sponsored Max – Product; Manual was untouched. Bidding type, bid value, duration, product list and status carried over, but Sponsored Max applies its own minimum budget, which can differ from before. The opt-out window closed September 18, and every eligible campaign has now converted; even an opted-out one changed format but stayed inactive.
Separately, since September 22, a product boosted through both Sponsored Max – Store and Product no longer gets priority under Product — it ranks like any other Store-promoted product, and its performance now counts under Store. Excluding a product from Store promotion is a manual step in Seller Center.
Why it still matters for Thai sellers and support teams
A campaign that converted but falls short of the new minimum budget can sit inactive with no obvious cause, quietly cutting off ad-driven traffic — worth checking even now that the migration itself is done. Per-product return-on-ad-spend numbers can still look different for reasons unrelated to demand, since performance now rolls up under Store rather than Product. Since ad clicks are often where a Lazada chat starts, an unexplained dip or spike in messages since late September is still more likely tied to this migration than to real buyer interest.
What to do now
- Confirm in Seller Center which campaigns converted, and to which Sponsored Max type.
- Check each converted campaign’s budget against the new minimum — an inactive campaign is usually a budget gap, not a targeting problem.
- If a product runs in both Store and Product campaigns, decide whether to exclude it now that automatic prioritization is gone.
- Compare ad-driven chat volume since the conversion against the month before, rather than reading a change as a demand shift.
Whatever this does to inbound volume, decide what’s worth automating first before adding headcount, and use a structured cadence for leads who go quiet instead of one unanswered reply.
