Lazada: A helpful influence in the local Ecommerce industry

Online shopping started to spread and competitors came out from nowhere after Lazada Online Mall was launched in the country. Surprisingly, the local industry of Ecommerce in country was really struggling prior to their arrival. The local online community never considered online shopping as their option in the past. When local online users want to buy something, they prefer cheaper second hand items on local classified websites. Traditional mall are usually the go-to source of customers who wants 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.

Choosing online shopping can save the local online customers some time and money. What are the benefits we can get if we avail online shopping? With online shopping, local online customers can shop wherever they may be. Usual extra-spent cash on visiting traditional malls will now be saved with online shopping. The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall actually wanted to solve this issue for local online consumers in the Philippines.

The goal for them is to actually tap the untapped market online in the country. A lot of the reasons is because of majority of the population don't possess their own credit card. It can't be helped that most of us questions the reliability of online transactions/ It's no secret that we know the existence of online scams and frauds. The local Ecommerce in the Philippines is now starting to grow. It's quite a amazing feat for this online store to achieve what they achieved on Ecommerce in less than a year. To showcase that they are legitimate as they can be, they had some TVC slots during primetime on top local channels.

What solution did they come up with in the usual Ecommerce woes in the country? Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. payment method as offered by them as an alternative payment. It's very rare for an online store to actually offer this kind of alternative payment method. Any online business finds this payment method very risky from their end. This payment method doesn’t require customers to pay them upfront. Customers will only need to pay in cash once their orders arrive at their doorstep. Customers can hold unto their money up until their orders arrived at their address.

This is more of insurance for customers that they are not a scam online store. It just shows that they are willing to give all the advantage to their customers just to make a mark that they are a legit business. This also the only way for them to penetrate the Ecommerce market in the country. It also allows them to tap the untapped online market, which is a non-credit cardholder. Actually, majority of the populations are non-credit cardholders. Therefore, conventional online payment method such as credit card payment won’t be enough if an online business wants thrive in the local online market. The good thing about them is that they continue to look for way on how they can further improve in the best online shopping experience to the local online community.

Lazada Philippines: A game changing shopping experience

So why did our country struggled in Ecommerce before? Unlike other countries from other regions, online shopping has been a long overdue option for Filipinos. Ecommerce is actually an online industry that helped other countries change its lifestyle particularly in shopping. It can be done anywhere and anytime they want as long as they have an Internet capable device hooked up with Internet connection. So for them, Ecommerce is already common for them already. The important thing is that it finally arrived in our country.

Back then; it's always a problem for most people to pay online. This is one of the reasons why it took a while before Ecommerce took off in the country.  This usually leads to giving away personal information and credit card details that may lead us to harm. There are other countries that encounter issues in online shopping since they are not familiar. It's actually hard to order online especially if you are still new to it and should always be done properly. Just a single error may lead to get overbilled. The process for petition on mistaken billing usually takes longer when it comes to online. 

It is actually very simple when you come to think of it. You get to avail what you paid for in real time. Other options are now available in this modern digital era. Shopping online is one example that is now available. People will no longer need to waste their energy and time just to shop. You will only need an Internet access and Internet capable device to shop online. To know what is offered by online malls, you can simply just visit their website. It's very different here in the Philippines. A couple of years ago, online shopping was never a common option. Conventional online payment was hard since most of us are not credit card owners. This made the Ecommerce growth very slow. 

The local online market was really hard to be penetrated by Ecommerce. It actually helped Ecommerce penetration much easier when online mall like Lazada arrived in the country. This helped give online shopping as an accepted option for the customers. Shopping online via Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. availability of their online mall, allowed non-credit card owners to shop online as well. Through Cash on Delivery or C.O.D., customers can just leave their address and name. They only require their customers to pay once they have delivered the orders at their customer's shipment address.

The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall first introduced C.O.D. or Cash on Delivery in online. Cash on Delivery is actually not new in the fast food delivery industry but since it was offered online it helped Ecommerce grow. It helped us understand on how online shopping can make it far easier for us. Once they arrived in the country, it opened the doors for other competitors. It helped us gain more options in shopping as compared before when we only have offline shopping. This actually altered how Filipinos view shopping in the country.

Lazada: Shopping online should be our choice

Lazada was just launched in the country early last year. The famous Samwer brothers are under their company Rocket Internet owns it. It is now only available in the Philippines but also in key countries of South East Asia. Since the economy is booming in most countries of South East Asia, they wanted to explore it in Ecommerce. They are known globally for launching multiple ventures on a Region wide scope.

That’s wherein they found success and they wanted to replicate it in South East Asia already tapped other regions. Online shopping is actually a common option already for other countries, mostly first and second world countries. Before they started to launch in the country, Ecommerce wasn't highly regarded yet. The local online community wasn't prepared for online transactions yet. Some of us still have limited online speed. Internet connection in our country compared to other is actually slower. We are actually behind in technology up until last year.

Not everyone in the country have his or her own credit card. Typically, online transactions can only be done through credit card usage. Cash on Delivery of this online mall, which allows any customers to pay in cash instead, eventually introduced C.O.D.. This Cash on Delivery alternative payment method changed how the Ecommerce landscape works in the Philippines Right now, most offline businesses are now entering the online medium as well since the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall arrived in the country. It opened the eyes of local businessmen about the potential of online business. What’s sad is that they needed International business to show them before they believed in the power of having an online business.

Not long ago when Ecommerce was an almost dead industry while other countries were thriving with it. The local online community who has online shopping capabilities still said no to online shopping. Online shoppers who can pay via credit card don't prefer online payment. It was actually hard for Ecommerce to grow along with its situation. Only online classifieds reached full success among other local online business. In the local online community, local online malls were never given attention as compared to local online classifieds in the past. Probably due to the fact that online classified ads have already an established community as for online malls, they were just starting.

At that time, local online malls were not common to see available in the local online community. This full blown online marketing exposure was executed in order to erase the past Ecommerce woes. No matter where you went in online, their brand presence was felt. This paved way for them to get known immediately as a brand to the local online users. What makes them standout is their overall online shopping service to their customers. They’re offered Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. payment methods comes with Free Delivery Availability as well. This also comes with manufacturer's warranty similar to what traditional mall offers. So it’s safe to say that it is pretty close to what traditional malls offer to their customers.

Lazada PH: Why Ecommerce matters in the country

The trend in online nowadays is online shopping, which is currently on the rise in the Philippines.  This trend changed how the local online users thought on how they can maximize their Internet usage. Two years ago, online shopping was in a different place, a place was people don't consider them at all. It's no secret that both online and offline frauds happen at high rate in the Philippines. It is why transactions done online are not highly regard by most of the local online users. Top websites in the country were local online classified ads in the buy and sell industry. They contributed in preparing the local online users for the arrival of online malls in the Philippines. A marketplace community was eventually born thanks to these local online classifieds. Buy and sell was harder online classified wasn't available yet and relied only thru offline. It became more of a reference for pricing when they want to buy something. This helped Internet become more diverse for customers. It was a venue for buy and sell local online audience.

Unlike Ecommerce, these are third party resellers who deal with the website visitors. Offline transaction is done here most of the time. The same goes for group buying websites for the impact it did on local users. It paved way for the Ecommerce industry in the country. When Ecommerce websites arrived in the country, they were already prepared for online deals already. Online shopping was still considered since the reward customer's will get beats the risk. The amazing deals offered to customers from group buy websites were very rare. Prices were way lower that local online users struggled to refuse their offered deal. It was only last year when website like Lazada Online Mall was launched in the Philippines. It is an online store venture available in South East Asia. It is powered by Rocket Internet, which is owned by the Samwer brothers. They are globally known as Internet business incubators geniuses. Under Rocket Internet, they own multiple ventures launched across different regions across the globe.

The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall made an impact in the local Ecommerce industry through its payment methods. Customers are given numerous kind of payment methods which they finding fitting for themselves. Conventionally, only via credit card or Paypal payment is allowed by conventional online malls. These conventional online payments are usually the reason customers don't push through with their orders since they don't any of it. The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall introduced Cash on Delivery or simply known as C.O.D. as new way to pay online. This payment method helps them to tap the untapped marketing in the country. This market is actually the majority market in the Philippines. By tapping this market, it eventually helped the rise of Ecommerce in the Philippines. Actually, if past online business that made an attempt to launch their business in the Philippines made this same kind of approach, they might have succeeded in taking over local online business platform.

Lazada: Making it easier for customers

Online payments have always been troublesome for most people. It usually requires us to fill a lot of online forms and provide our credit card details, which is very risky to expose online. Other countries face difficulties in dealing with online payments since they are not familiar with it. Ordering online is quite delicate since it should be done properly especially for new to online payment. You may be overbilled on your transaction if you make a mistake. When it comes to online processing of wrong bill, it usually takes longer days than from offline. It's easy to understand. You get what you paid for in real time. Other options showed up in this modern digital era.  This makes our lives much easier and faster. Time and energy can now be saved in line shopping since they don't need roam around the mall buildings. In online shopping, you'll only need an Internet access and Internet capable device. All you need to do to know what is being offered by online malls is to check their website. However, it's very different in the Philippines.

Online shopping wasn't common a few years back. Most of us are unable to purchase online since they are not credit card owners. The Ecommerce growth was really challenging at that time. Ecommerce was an industry that is really hard to penetrate. A lot of online business in the past tried their best to establish their business on the local online business platform. But due to timing of local online users not yet prepared with the Ecommerce technology then and the inability to tap the market who can’t pay via conventional online payments,  it made it harder for them.

When Lazada arrived in the country, it helped the penetration of Ecommerce much easier. Their arrival made online shopping as a potential option. Since C.O.D. or Cash on Delivery is a payment method offered by the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall, it allowed anyone to become customers. Customers who select Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. can just leave their shipment address and their name. Only once Lazada delivers their customer's orders that they require to be paid. It was the first time C.O.D. or Cash on Delivery was offered online thru them Even though Cash on Delivery is already offered before on fast food delivery, it helped Ecommerce grow significantly ever since it was offered online. It made us see that we can make our shopping much faster and easier. Competitors came out from nowhere ever since they showed on local online map.

Now that we can shop either by online or offline, this gives us more options in online. These numerous online stores pretty much offer the same products or items that they are offering. However, they vary with their overall online shopping service to customers. The Lazada online mall stood out from its competition mainly on the payment option varieties that they offer to their customers. Sure, they offer the typical online transaction method. But they also offer unconventional online payment that makes it easier for local online users to select which one of those online payments suits them best.