Lazada PH: Building the foundation in online shopping

Ecommerce has always been a problem in the Philippines dating back to the mid-2000s where Ecommerce from other countries are already starting to establish the online shopping industry’s foundation. Although, other countries have started to adapt to online shopping already, the country had just a break through last year. A lot of Ecommerce stores were put up in the local online market. It’s actually amazing to see how they started pop out from nowhere. Imagine, this all happened within one year.

Personally, I truly believe that this online shopping craze started when website like Lazada was launched in the country. They are one of the key players that truly changed the online shopping perception of the local online users. Before they arrived in the country, online shopping wasn’t a household name. Online shopping is something we only knew that is happening in other countries. The closest we can get to an online shopping mall are our local online classifieds. But that’s a different story since online users only meet there and still make their deals and bargains offline. But still it was the closest we have prior to Lazada’s arrival here in the country. It was actually perfect timing for them as the online market is on the rise. A lot of local electronic brands are available in the country. The same goes for affordable netbooks. This only proves that the local online market audience is a sufficient market. So the market is pretty clear available.

Lazada’s challenge is not only the market but also the perception of the market and their capability to pay online. Conventionally, online stores require their customers to pay upfront via credit card. Sadly, the majority of the population is non-credit cardholders. As for the minority of the credit cardholders, not all of them are even open to consider online shopping. A lot of risks are involved from their point of view, which is true. Especially, if the online store they are buying from is unknown. The potential of online frauds and scams is very high. This was the challenge set upon Lazada when they arrived. Good thing that Lazada came to the country prepared.

The introduced an alternative payment method that allows online users to pay in cash. Cash on Delivery or simply C.O.D., is already used or applied in the country but only for fast food delivery. On the online shopping aspect, they are one of the first to offer it. Also, not everyone is willing to offer the same payment method due to the fact that from a business standpoint. Margin of loss is too high. But Lazada knew it was the only way to make sure that they can successfully penetrate the market on a phase they wanted.  So now, any visitor from their website can easily order from their website. The name itself is how it is. Customers can go to their lazada.com.ph website and not worry about paying via credit card. Instead they can order anything they like and have it delivered at there very home without needing to pay upfront. Customers can pay in cash once their order package is delivered at their doorsteps.