All throughout my experience with online surfing I never
realized that online shopping would come along in the future of modern digital
era. I remember when I first got into online surfing, which no longer is the
term used for online browsing by the way, I only use the Internet for research
and news. Websites weren’t sophisticated at that time. It was actually pure
text based website at that time. If you want to entertain yourself, it will be
very hard for you especially if you are not into reading. As the Internet and
technology progressed, so did the websites online. In the Philippines, online
shopping only took off last year, which is a surprise for people on other
countries that are used to online shopping in their country. Online shopping is
clearly not new when it arrived in the country last year.
Prior to a year ago, Ecommerce was struggling to expand in
the local online community. A lot of factors made Ecommerce penetration almost
impossible from a local standpoint. Somehow it started to change when website
giant like Lazada Online Store
was launched in the country. No one actually knew what it was about when they
arrived last year. Having a foreign company name doesn’t help either. A lot of
skeptics were even forecasting the online business of Rocket Internet, which is
known for aggressively starting-up online business models throughout the globe,
to flop. So in order for them to have a unique selling point that will break
the Ecommerce barrier that is plaguing the local Ecommerce industry, they
offered Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. This alternative payment method allows
anyone to order anything from their website. Customers don’t need to leave
their credit card details or Paypal account if they want to avail their
service. All they need to do is to visit the Lazada website.
From there, all they need to do is order anything they want
from the website and have it shipped on their address. No need to pay upfront
which is the conventional setup between online customers and online stores.
Typical online stores, usually require their customers to pay first before they
shipped out the order. With Lazada, they don’t need to pay right away. They can
wait for their order to arrive and pay in cash as their order package is handed
over to them. That helped eliminate the online shopping woes of the country. No
need to worry about giving away your confidential credit card details and no
need to doubt the trust factor of online store. Since customers are not
required to pay right away. Anyone can try them out. If it works, then if
satisfied, buy again; if not, then they still get to keep their money in their
pockets. It’s clear that Lazada has the lower leverage with this kind of
payment setup to their customers. But the thing that made Lazada on top of the
local competitors are their overall service package which includes friendly
alternative payment methods. It’s not just about an online store that offers
products online.
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