It’s only natural for anyone to think of websites when
someone speaks about Internet. To me it’s like a marriage: when one upgrades,
the other should follow. As Internet evolved in faster data upload and download
access, websites became more and more sophisticated. It has become more
intuitive than the past generation of websites where it is just heavily loaded
with just pure text. This upgrade of Internet and website also influenced us
indirectly.
Online usage has become part of our lifestyle nowadays. Gone
are the days when connecting to the Internet is just a luxury or option. The
demand for it has grown significantly. Most of our usual offline activities can
now be done online as well. We can even shop now online. No need to go to
traditional malls and waste energy, time and money. Actually, online shopping
has just begun to expand in the country last year. A year before that, online
shopping was never an option in the Philippines. The Ecommerce industry in
general was struggling to grow compared to other countries outside of Asia.
It all started when Lazada online mall was
launched in the country. It’s a venture powered by Rocket Internet, which is
also available in countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
South East Asia is actually a perfect target for putting up an online business
since the competition is still low. However, the market was very thin as well.
So in order for them to make an impact, they needed to offer something that
will allow them to tap all the untapped market in Asia. Since Asia is know for
having a low percentage of credit card owner. It is highly unlikely that many
of the locals will be able to buy online in a conventional way, which is either
credit card or Paypal account. So what they did is they offered Cash on
Delivery or C.O.D. to all of their customers. It allows any customers to order
anything in the website and pay in cash only after their order package is
delivered at their doorstep. Although, used successfully in other industries.
It was the first to be applied on an Ecommerce business.
The risks of the business owners were really high, but the
reward is also enormous that it is worth the risk. Good thing that their gamble
paid off. Since LazadaPH
was launched across South East Asia, numerous big investors already invested in
the business. They had just entered their first year last April 2013. Not bad
for a venture that was highly regarded by critics as a sure flop. Personally,
what makes Lazada my go to online shopping mall is their user interface. Their
website is not cluttered unlike some of their competitors. Despite being loaded
with heavy media files within their website content. They still managed to
balance it with the decent website load speed for their customers. It’s only
natural for an online mall to have a lot of media format since the goal is to
give customers a more visual presentation that will actually make customers
feel like what they are planning to buy is just right in front of them. So
great job Lazada!
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