Lazada: Pushing Ecommerce to the next level

Online shopping started to rise since Lazada Online Mall was launched in the country and other online stores showed up from everywhere. Actually, Ecommerce was a struggling in the industry prior to their arrival in the country. For short, not all local online users regarded online shopping as an option to their shopping needs. Before, local online users prefer visiting local online classified websites when they want to buy something in second hand condition. It actually became a trend in the country as most buy and sell people would go to this kind of websites.

Typically, customers would usually go to traditional malls if they want buy anything brand new. It's pretty normal to see since most of us grew up visiting traditional offline malls when we need something. However, most of us fail to realize that we can actually save time and money in online shopping. So how can these help us in our shopping needs? Shopping online is way easier as you can do it from wherever you are. Travel expense can now be saved since customers will no longer need to visit traditional mall locations. This was the greatest challenge for them when they launched here in the Philippines.

It was difficult for online malls to tap the local online market of the country. Probably it is because the majority of the Filipinos are not credit card owners or PayPal account users. There's also a factor that most of us don't trust online transactions. Online frauds and scams also happen globally, which we are all aware of. In the Philippines, online shopping is actually an industry that is on the verge to rise. It's actually amazing to see that Lazada is making an impact on Ecommerce and is rapidly reaching success with their year of tenure, which is a remarkable feat for them. Its recent appearance on TVC from top local TV networks during primetime just show how legit and credible they are to the local online customers. Any scam website or business wouldn’t put their business on live television, so its clearly a green flag that it is legit as it can be.

So how did they end up breaking the limitations that plagued the Ecommerce industry before? What they did is they offered Cash on Delivery or simple called C.O.D. as an alternative payment method. This is a payment method that is actually rare to see available in any online business. The reason behind is that not all-online business will risk their business for this payment method. With Cash on Delivery or C.O.D., customers don't need to pay right away unlike with other payment methods were it is required to pay right away. What makes this convenient is that customers can pay them after their orders are actually handed over to them. With this, customers won't need to worry about their money getting scammed. The goal of the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall is to make sure that their customers can trust them with this payment method. This is what sets them apart from other online stores.

Lazada Philippines: A great boost for online transactions

It’s always been a challenge for most countries in South East Asia to establish their local Ecommerce industry to their local online market. Like our country, we usually encountered a lot of issues in dealing with online. For some local online users, it was always a challenge for them to make online payment. It's hard to give away credit card details and personal information online just to pay for something you bought. It's very confusing for other countries that are unfamiliar with online payments. Some users may struggle in online payment especially if they are still new to it. Not properly doing it may lead you to be overbilled. The downside is that when it comes to online and you got billed more accidentally, it takes longer days for it to be processed. It's very easy. You get what you want in real time.

In this modern digital era, other options have risen online. One option that is now available in online is shopping. You can actually save time and energy walking around the mall building. If you want to shop online, you'll only need Internet access and an Internet capable device. It's a quick access online if you want to visit their website and find out what they can offer. It's very different here in the Philippines. Shopping online wasn't available then. Conventionally, we weren't able to pay online since most of us are not credit card owners. As a result, Ecommerce grew slower than compared to other industries. Having a low market made Ecommerce very challenging. When website like Lazada Online mall came in, it made Ecommerce penetration much easier.

It made online shopping a relevant and clear option. It's all thanks to their Cash on Delivery or C.O.D., it allowed non-credit card owners to shop online as well. Customers who select Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. can just leave their shipment address and customer name. It's only when orders are delivered at the shipment address that payment is required by the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall. This is only the first tome Cash on Delivery was offered by a local online store in the country. With option of Cash on Delivery, it marked the first time it was introduced in our country and evidently helped the growth of Ecommerce. The growth of Ecommerce can’t be overlooked ever since they came in our country.

Ultimately, it made us understand how it can be easier for us in online shopping. Since they arrived in the country, competitors show up from nowhere. Most of the local online businesses are now recognizing how online can help build their business elevated to the next level. This gives us flexibility in shopping options rather than just the conventional offline shopping. No longer we will worry about the time of our schedule. We can pretty much dictate when and where we want to shop. It is similar to having an imaginary on and off button in addressing our shopping needs.

Lazada: Helping the local Ecommerce grow

It was exactly last April of 2012 when Lazada mall came to the country. It is under Rocket Internet, which is owned by the Samwer brothers in Germany. Besides Philippines, it is also a venture available in other South East Asia countries. Since Ecommerce has a low competition and that we are on the phase of rising in economy. They known for launching a lot of ventures to different regions and have successfully established their other ventures. Shopping online in other countries is already pretty common and is already part of the lifestyle. The industry of Ecommerce in the Philippines before they arrived is growing slowly. Not having enough population who can purchase online definitely affects Ecommerce. Not all of us have decent Internet connection. As for the slow Internet connection users, it’s not entirely convenient on their end to shop online on Ecommerce websites. It’s one reason why Ecommerce had hard time on establishing their industry in the country.

Credit card owners are quite few in the country. Credit card payments are the usual accepted online payment by online stores. Unconventionally, Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. was introduced to the customers, allowing them to pay in cash instead of the conventional online payments. It actually changed the Ecommerce game in the country by allowing anyone to become customers. As of now, offline businesses are now transitioning to online as well. Online business suddenly had relevance to local businessmen after the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall showed it to them. Ecommerce was never highly regarded initially as most of them failed to penetrate the local market. Even if we still had decent numbers of capable online shoppers, it still won't matter since they are not willing to. Online shoppers who can online the conventional way were actually afraid to expose their credit card details. Their situation didn't allow Ecommerce to grow as expected. Their growth rate was so low that other online businesses that launched initially in the country pulled the plug on their businesses here in the Philippines.

Online classifieds were the usual websites that commanded its presence to local online users. On the other hand, online shopping malls were deeply challenged in the online scene. It’s only normal for it to be that since not online business was never highly though off. What the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall did to over come that was to allow full blown online market campaigns. It was very unlikely that you missed out all of their online marketing campaigns. Local online browsers quickly caught up their brand. What made them above their competition is that their customers were served with the full online shopping service. Free Delivery Availability accompanies their Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. payment method as well. It comes with manufacturer's warranty that traditional malls similarly offers. Recently, they made their payment method even more flexible by offering credit card installment thru BDO and re-opened PayPal payments on the online mall. It’s pretty surprising that they still manage to pull of surprises to us even if most of us are already sold on their online shopping setup with us.

Lazada Philippines: It makes it easier for online consumers in the country

There's no doubting that online shopping is a rising industry in the Philippines. It's actually surprising to witness since online shopping is not how it used to dating back two years ago and online users was never a fan of it. It's actually expected since the rate of fraud in the country is high both in online and offline. This is why online transactions are not highly trusted by the local online users in the country. It was usually local classified ads that were close to an online store, which is actually a buy and sell industry. However, online visitors of these online classified ads are not dealing directly with the website. It is simply being used as a platform by the community that grew within the website.  But this helped online users to have a glimpse on how it is like to deal with online. Hence, they were familiar on how online can make their shopping much easier.

Ridiculous as it may be, but this help prepared the rise of the Ecommerce industry. They started the marketplace community in the country. The local audience didn't know were to go if they went to buy something when local online classifieds still didn’t exist in the country. It was just used mainly for pricing comparison of items consumers want to buy. This eventually helped revolutionize on how online users behave for shopping ideas. Various visitors on these kinds of websites go there to buy and sell. Ecommerce was far different from this since its third party resellers who earns or benefits from it.

Transactions are usually done offline. It's the same concept with group buying websites. This boosted the preparation of the Ecommerce industry's arrival in the country. By the time Ecommerce arrived in the country, local online users are somewhat familiar in doing transactions online. People consider online shopping since the risk is way lower than the reward. Customers who experience shopping on group buys websites found deals that can only be found on group buy deals. Prices offered by them were at rock bottom that it is too hard to pass on. Lazada Philippines was launched in the country last year. It is actually an online mall venture launched across South East Asia. It is under Rocket Internet that is owned by the famous Samwer brothers.

The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall made an impact in Ecommerce through their various payment methods. Their payment methods featured different payments that allow online customers, which suit them, best. Unlike conventionally, online stores require only credit card payments online or thru PayPal. However, with this payment method alone, it limits the customers in making a transaction with online stores. They first introduced Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. to their customers.  This allowed them to tap the untapped market, which is the non-credit cardholders or Paypal account users. Delete As a matter of fact, it is the majority of the local market in the Philippines. Now that it has been tapped, it allowed the Ecommerce industry to further grow.

Lazada: Online Shopping like no other

It’s always a good thing that a country has online shopping options at their disposal. The Ecommerce industry is quite challenging South East Asia for any investors or business owners in the early 2000. Most of the market share is still unable to pay online at that time in South East Asia. Credit cards are only owned by a few among the entire online population. For the few of them can avail online payment via credit card, not every one of them considers online transaction even. It's not a surprise in South East Asia since almost everyone is aware of frauds and scams that happen in online businesses. Offline businesses usually have an advantage in credibility over online businesses. It actually feels safer for us when we deal with offline business since we deal directly face to face. But were actually failing to take a good look on legit online malls that may offer better deals. Online business usually offers the better deals since they offer lower pricing compared to offline malls. This makes online shopping malls more attractive to customers since they offer regular discounts and promos.

In order for them to convert offline customers to online, they really needed to offer those kinds of deals. Online shopping mall like Lazada is an example of an online store that is also launched in other countries of South East Asia. In our country, they are one of the first to offer the biggest selections that we only see on traditional malls. They were the first to introduce C.O.D. or Cash on Delivery payment method in the country. To be honest, this is one of the main factors that allowed them to reach where they are right now. Just last April, they celebrated their first anniversary and celebrated their already great achievements for short time of existence. This is actually above the usual as it usually take longer years for an online business to kick off in the country. But with their aggressive online marketing where you see their online ads almost everywhere, it quickened their growth tremendously.

Their competitors actually only showed up when they arrived last year. It's obvious that businessmen were awakening about the potential of Ecommerce upon their arrival in the country. Time will only tells us on how online shopping will become in the next coming years. Their unconventional approached helped them reached out to the local customers and eventually win them over. With the availability of Cash on Delivery, they were able to tap the untapped market by other online stores. It expanded the numbers of customers since most Filipinos can only pay via cash. Besides this successful payment method, they offer free delivery as long as the transaction value exceeds one thousand pesos. They are willing to waive any shipment fee that have a value more than one thousand pesos. Customers can easily be enticed to pick online shopping over traditional offline shopping by offering Cash on Delivery of Free Delivery availability.