Monday, September 30, 2013

Lazada PH: An era of convenient shopping

Internet is beginning to shape right before our eyes. It is a pleasure for our generation that we are in between the old era and the arrival of this modern digital era. So it is only normal for us to adjust to changes that are happening around us. Actually, a lot of the things that was part of our lifestyle offline have now migrated to online. This had made our lives easier and faster as compared during the old days. After Lazada was launched in the Philippines, other online competitors showed up and online shopping started to emerge in the local online market. Prior to their arrival, the industry in Ecommerce was almost flat in growth. The local online community never considered online shopping as their option in the past. For second hand items, local online users visit online classified websites to buy to what they are looking for. As for local consumers who want to buy something new, they usually visit traditional offline malls. This should be no surprise to us as we were raised by our parents going to traditional offline malls when we need to shop.

In online shopping, we fail to realize that we can actually save our time and money. How can online users benefit from doing online shopping instead? Shopping online is way easier as you can do it from wherever you are. Money spent on travel expense will now be deducted since customers won't need to travel to the location of traditional malls. It was of the challenge that they try to solve when they arrived in the country. One of the challenges that they were facing is how they can tap the untapped online community in the country. A lot of the reasons is because of majority of the population don't possess their own credit card. It's also no secret that most of us finds online transactions unreliable. Online frauds and scams are pretty widely known online crisis by the local online users. Nowadays, the local Ecommerce is beginning to make some noise in the online space.

To see the progress of Lazada online mall making an impact on the local Ecommerce is quite amazing. They even showed up on TVC at top local channels during their primetime to show how credible they are to their customers. So how did they end up breaking the limitations that plagued the Ecommerce industry before? A newly then alternative payment method called Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. was introduced to their online customers. This is very unconventional payment method that is presented by any online mall. A lot of risk lies when an online business offers that kind of payment method online. This payment method doesn’t require customers to pay them upfront. Their online customers can pay after they have received their orders in real time. This allows customers to hold their money until they received their actual orders in real time. This is the way to show the local online customers that they won't be scammed.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Lazada: Ecommerce boom in the Philippines


Ecommerce initially had a slot start in South East Asia. It struggled mainly because the market was still raw and the technology doesn’t support it yet. I mean, majority of the consumers during the early 2000 didn’t have sufficient technology support for the standard means that Ecommerce requires. It also doesn’t help that the economy for most countries in this region is not doing well unlike nowadays. Actually, Ecommerce only started when a lot of the local online competitors slowly showed up after Lazada came into the picture while the online shopping trend begun in the Philippines. Looking a few years back when they weren't around online, Ecommerce was a flat industry in the Philippines. Not everyone found online shopping as a helpful option for addressing their shopping needs then. When local online users want to buy something, they prefer cheaper second hand items on local classified websites.

Brand new seekers conventionally go to traditional offline malls when they want to buy something. We were actually raised that way wherein we go to traditional offline malls when we need to buy something. With online shopping, local online consumers can actually save their time and money. How can online shopping actually give us more benefits?  Online shopping can be conducted wherever the customer pleases. Travel expense can now be saved since customers will no longer need to visit traditional mall locations. This is a shopping woe that the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall wanted to solve for the local online customers in the country. It's also challenging for them to be able to tap the untapped market in online of the Philippines. Since most of the population are not credit cardholders, only few can pay online conventionally. It can't be helped that most of us questions the reliability of online transactions. For most of us, we are aware that in online transactions, frauds and scams may also be possible. We are now entering the era in the Philippines where Ecommerce is making a mark.

Lazada is just over one year of operation but they managed to make an impact on the Ecommerce industry. One proof to realize that they are as legit as they can be is they can be seen on TVC during primetime from top local TV networks in the country. A solution was formulated by them in order to break the Ecommerce silence in the country. What they did is they offered Cash on Delivery or simple called C.O.D. as an alternative payment method. Online malls usually don't offer this kind of alternative payment method to online customers. This payment method is risky from a business standpoint for most online business owners. Orders are not actually required to be paid upfront by customers with Cash on Delivery payment method. Customers will only need to pay in cash once their orders arrive at their doorstep. It's a worry-free setup since customers can hold their money until their orders arrives at their home. The reason for this is to ensure customers that they won't be scammed if they deal with them.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Lazada Philippines: Increase of online usage helped online shopping rate

It’s amazing to see that Internet usage has drastically increased for the last couple of years. I’m not sure if social media websites and smartphones penetration have contributed to it, but logically, it made sense that with the two, connecting online can be more fun and easier for most of us. One thing that is actually changing is our ways of shopping. The online shopping phenomenon in the country just keeps on growing every day. Surprisingly, this is a shock for most of us when we think on how it was looked down upon by most local online users. Most of the frauds and scams happen online beside offline in the Philippines. It is why transactions done online is not highly regard by most of the local online users. What was closest considered in Ecommerce was local online classified websites. This helped the Ecommerce industry prepared the local online users for online malls.

A community of marketplace was eventually built thanks to these local online classifieds. It was actually tough to seek items you want online when these local online classified websites were not yet available. It became a website for canvasing the market price of the item they want to buy offline. This eventually helped revolutionize on how online users behave for shopping ideas. It turned to be a buy and sell platform for most local online users. This allowed local online users to have more options on which third party resellers will they are dealing with. Offline transactions are usually conducted by third party resellers on these kinds of websites. The same goes for group buying websites for the impact it did on local users. They showed the way for the Ecommerce websites in the country. The local online users were already prepared with online payment but the time Ecommerce websites arrived in the Philippines.

Online shopping to local online users has more upside than downside. It was hard for local online users to get greater deals being offered by group buy websites. With lower prices being offered by group buy websites, it made it harder for local online users to refuse them. Lazada Philippines was launched in the country last year. They are actually an online mall that is part of a venture in South East Asia. They are being back by Rocket Internet which is owned by Samwer brothers. The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall significantly helped the local Ecommerce in the Philippines through their diverse payment methods. Customers are given numerous kind of payment methods which they finding fitting for themselves. Credit cards and PayPal are usually the online payment method accepted by most online stores. Conventional online payments like these, only limits the customers in availing what they want. Local online consumers were introduced with Cash on Delivery as their alternative payment method online. The untapped market in the past can now be tapped with their offering of this payment method. This is actually the majority market in the Philippines. Now that it has been tapped, it allowed the Ecommerce industry to further grow.


Lazada Philippines: Radical change of online users


I remember the days when I only go online to conduct a research. This was the time when Internet was just starting to get noticed by online users. I never imagine that it would reach to a point where it will become part of our daily activities nowadays. I believe it first got its true value when Internet translated communication to their platform. We were no longer required to pay a lot of money to connect long distance to our loved ones. It was the initial reason on how Internet started to become part of our lifestyle. Eventually, Ecommerce arrived online. However, it was only available to few countries since their technologies were already capable of supporting online transactions. As for our country, online shopping started to rise ever since Lazada Online Mall was launched in the country and other online stores showed up from everywhere. Ecommerce was actually slow in growth a year before they have arrived in the Philippines. The local online users never thought of online shopping as their alternative option in shopping in the past. Local online users usually visited local online classified websites when they are looking for a second hand item.

Traditional mall are usually the go-to source of customers who wants to buy brand new items. Actually, it is expected from us since we grew up shopping on traditional offline malls by our parents. We actually need to realize that online shopping can reserve our time and money. So what can we get from online shopping? Local customers can actually shop anywhere you want with online shopping. It can actually save consumers more money on gas expense since they don't need to go location of traditional malls. This was the greatest challenge of Lazada when they launched here in the Philippines. It was actually hard for any online mall to tap the untapped online community of the country. Not being able to pay online since most of the population are credit cardholders at all. It's quite hard for the local online consumers to trust online deals right away.

It's no secret that we know the existence of online scams and frauds. The local Ecommerce industry in the country is now expanding. Despite only having more than a year of operation under its belt, Lazada had already established its brand on the local online scene. To prove that they are a legit online mall, they were seen on TVC on top local channels at primetime. Given the limitations in Ecommerce, how did they solve it? They introduced Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. as an alternative payment method to their customers. This is a payment method that is actually rare to see available in any online business.

Actually, it's a payment method that is quite risky for any online business. Payments are not usually required right away with payment method. Cash payments can be done by customers once Lazada delivers their orders at their very home. Customers can hold into their money up until their orders arrived at their address. The intention is to make sure that their customers will be at ease with their online shopping with them.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Lazada Philippines: Change of phase in Ecommerce online shopping

Ecommerce in the country was a struggling industry going back to late 90’s and 2000’s. Although it was a thriving industry for most rich countries then when it just started, countries like the Philippines was still unable to adapt to it. Basically, we are not yet ready for that kind of technology since we were behind technology wise. It only started to change when online mall like Lazada Philippines arrived in the country last year. Actually, numerous online malls were launched in the country and online shopping started to be a popular option for consumers ever since the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall arrived in the country. Looking a few years back when they weren't around online, Ecommerce was a flat industry in the Philippines.

Most local online users, online shopping is not highly considered option for them. For local consumers who may want to buy second hand items, they usually visit local online classified ads. Traditional malls are often visited by customers who want to buy brand new items. It's actually inevitable for us to visit traditional offline malls when we want to buy something since we grew up that way. With online shopping, local online consumers can actually save their time and money.

So how can these help us in our shopping needs? They can shop online as they please, wherever that may be. Expenses can go down since local consumers won't need to spend travel expense on going to traditional offline malls. It was an issue that was long endured by local customers that Lazada wanted to solve for them. It's also challenging for them to be able to tap the untapped market in online of the Philippines. Most of the population in the country is actually non credit cardholders; therefore they are unable to pay online. Having a culture that doesn't trust online transactions also has contributions to it.

With Internet, online frauds and scams will always be present in online transactions. The local Ecommerce in the Philippines is now starting to grow. The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall is just over one year of operation but they managed to make an impact on the Ecommerce industry. Their recent appearance on TVC from top local TV networks during primetime just shows how legit and credible they are to the local online customers. What did they do to break the Ecommerce limitation in the country? They first introduced Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. as an alternative payment method.

It's a payment method that is not just offered typically by online malls. This payment method is risky from a business standpoint for most online business owners. It is not a requirement for their online customers to pay right away with this payment method. They only require customers to pay as their orders are handed over to them. This enables customers to keep their money up until their orders are handed over to them in real time. This is more of insurance for customers that they are actually a legit online store.