Lazada Review: The Real Philippines online shopping mall

Last year, the year 2012 was a very momentous time for Philippine the online shopping and e-commerce industry well it was also a very controversial year since a lot of doomsayers and naysayers were saying that the world is going to end during that time. I never believed it though and sure my hunches were right, we are still going to be here alive and kicking. Like what I have said earlier, the year 2012 was a very momentous year, time flies so fat and we are about to end the year again but anyway, last year was the time when the Philippines online shopping mall, my favorite online retail store Lazada Philippines  was launched, unleashed and introduced to the Philippine market and took everyone by storm. So what is the big hype about it and what is the gem in it? What is that thing with Lazada pH that glitters so much? Well for one thing, the company is one of the Philippines first online shopping mall and one of the first few companies to offer easy payment methods that provided all kinds of consumers with the ability to enjoy online shopping wherever they are, whenever and whatever they are.

This company is not a stand-alone company but rather, it is a business entity created by another greater business entity and that is the world famous Rocket Internet of Berlin Germany. Rocket-Internet was created by the equally world famous trio of brothers, the Samwer brothers. We’ll touch on a few things about Rocket-Internet later on. Anyway, I am sure if you have been doing online shopping for a while just like me, you might have noticed Lazada’s resemblance to a familiar online shopping company in the United States. That company that Lazada has similarities with is Amazon.com, Which is where the business model was taken out of through the process of cloning. Rocket-Internet perhaps noticed that amazon.com still has not established itself outside of their traditional realm which is of course the North American market and Rocket-Internet as usual, with its culture of speed and fast execution wanted to be the first one to introduce such an online shopping concept to the Asian Market. Which is a very smart move because as we all know, anything that resembles something like amazon will immediately get caught up by the market in Southeast Asian Regions.

We mentioned the term cloning earlier, Rocket- Internet is into creating successful online businesses through the process of business incubation and cloning which is a very important method for them that have brought them to the top of the e-commerce world. The cloning process involves the replication of successful business ideas; in this case the company’s focus is cloning of successful online companies since they are involved in the internet business world.  The company has been doing it for the past decade and so far has been very successful as evidenced by the multitudes of portfolio companies that they have already created. Lazada is indeed the real online shopping mall because of the huge backing they got behind them and you know what that means that means quality service all the time.

Lazada Philippines Review: Awesome corporate culture

There are a lot of things that makes for an amazing company culture and we are going to go through some of those things today. The main point of interest here is the Philippines online shopping mall Lazada the internet company that created it, the online start-up incubator and online venture builder Rocket-Internet. This is an amazing company that has been achieving great stuff since day one and that makes their practices and corporate culture worth looking at and emulating. There are so many things and factors that have brought this company to great heights and we are going to look at them, dissect them, scrutinize, chop, slice and dice the ideas that make them an awesome company. The first is, of course the company vision-mission 

Vision-Mission – All companies have some kind of a vision-mission. I know formulating a vision-mission has already become a cliché. A lot of companies, even organizations that are not involved in the business of making profits have a vision-mission. I don’t know but they have to have one if they want to succeed. That gives every company some kind of a goal to focus on and target. Rocket-Internet is no stranger to having a vision-mission. When other companies and organizations opt for something that is more poetic and socially conscious, Rocket-Internet goes for the practical one, something that a lot of employees and people can easily relate to. The company’s vision-mission is all about making things happen, and making them happens fast. It is all about achievement. Whatever it takes to win and be on the top. The company believes in humility, dedication and hard work. They also put a premium on sharing valuable information and knowledge and take a huge pride on having the ability to solve problems independently.   They also believe on what is possible and potential. The ability to achieve things despite the opposition.

Out of the box thinking – The founders of this great company also puts an even higher premium on the value of creative and out of the box thinking. Iconoclasts will thrive better in this company than those who are merely going along with the waves and are afraid to take risks. The more daring the idea is, the better it would be for the company. Creativity is the fuel of innovation, without creativity, man will probably be using stone tools and we could not have conquered the moon and set satellites into orbit and explore the vast recesses of outer space. 

Employment opportunities – A company’s success rests on the back of the people working for it, in fact, without manpower, there would not be any kind of business. The leaders of this company believes in intelligence more than experience, and that kind of belief that the leaders of the company held gives a lot of creative and intelligent people a  shot at a corporate position. It does not matter whatever background you have, as long as you can contribute and throw ideas at the table then you are a perfect fit for this amazing venture builder. Those are juts among the few things that make this company amazing and there are lots more.

Lazada’s success is premeditated

There is a huge reason behind Lazada PH ‘s unmitigated success and that kind of success was premeditated and did not just happen by accident. The reason behind it is of course the unwavering support of a great internet company called Rocket-Internet. Take a peek at the most prestigious, fastest and largest internet venture builder in the world. But first, what is Rocket-Internet? What are they doing and why the support that they provide start-up companies is of paramount importance to profitability, success, sustainability and overall stability of a company. To start off,   Rocket-Internet is an online venture builder, business incubator. They build companies and they are good at it. They are particularly focused on building online companies and e-commerce companies. You probably already have gotten the hint when I dropped off the term incubator, which of course is defined as something or an entity that facilitates incubation. Applying that term to Rocket-Internet, it simply means that Rocket-Internet incubates companies until they become ripe or are able to stand on their own. That is the most basic definition of Rocket-Internet’s business concept. Going into it deeper, a business incubator is a support setup intended to back the progress of a business venture by employing entrepreneurial support logistics and amenities that are created by the management of the incubator company and distributed in both inside the incubator and through its wide network. There are a plethora of business incubators based on the methods of delivery of service, the client segments that they provide their services to and organizational structure. 

Here is a very quick history of this famed online venture building company for reference. Rocket-Internet is an online venture builder that started in Berlin Germany. It was an idea from the Samwer brothers, and it actually started way back 1999 under a different name that was not disclosed. It did not start using the company name Rocket-Internet until the 2007. However, it has been creating and launching successful online ventures in as early as the year 2000. The company’s business concept is the cloning of highly successful online shopping and e-commerce websites. The websites where the ideas are usually coming from are mostly coming from the United States then they rebrand them and launch them in another country usually in countries where there are emerging markets. One prime example of the company’s early success is Citydeal. If you have heard of it and thinking why it has a very eerie similarity to Groupon well your suspicion is well-founded because Citydeal is one of the cloned e-commerce websites that rocket-internet replicated from the company Groupon.  The usual scenario that follows the success of a portfolio company that rocket-internet creates is merger and acquisition. During the early goings of the business, it has profited off the companies that it exited successfully and the profits that they made are no peanuts. They are real money and the fast and speedy execution is something that was never done before. Having this kind of backing in Lazada means that their success is not by accident but rather it was absolutely premeditated and carefully planned.

Lazada Philippines Review: Continuous drive towards e-commerce progress

An online shopping website’s effects to an e-commerce economy can be evaluated in a variety of ways. The approach can be done from coming from different directions with a lot of factors that can be considered and looked into. That is what the online shopping website lazada.com.ph/  is all about, it is a multi-faceted company that has done and created a lot of good things for the local e-commerce industry  affecting it positively in general and on a grander perspective. Looking closely at what this online shopping company has contributed to the online shopping and e-commerce industry, it is very good to know that it is not a company that is just after the profit but rather make a positive indelible dent on the commercial viability of e-commerce. 

This company introduced a lot of innovations that changed the game and status of e-commerce in the country and has brought the standards to a level where it could allow facilitate progress and improvement. There are specific areas of local online shopping that the company has contributed positively on and here they are:

World class online shopping locally – When you shop and look around the Lazada web page, you’ll know the difference off hand and realize that this is not the regular local online shopping website. It gives one the feeling of shopping in an international online shopping site. The way things are done in the company, the way the customers are being treated and the overall quality of customer service that they offer make them a step ahead of the pack and it sure help to bring the idea and concept of online shopping to the consciousness of the masses. 

The big and primary contributor to that overall international feel despite it being local is the fact that the website was developed and created by the world’s foremost international online venture builder called Rocket-Internet based out of Berlin Germany. This online venture builder and internet business incubator has been developing portfolio companies for more than a decade now and has created more than 100 portfolio companies all over the world. They brought other top –notch online shopping websites to the local arena such as the fashion focused online shopping website Zalora which I have also shopped at several times. Their presence is not limited to Asia alone as they have also a huge presence in other emerging economies as well as developed ones such as Australia, Canada, Germany and many others. Their presence in Southeast Asia is not just confined to the Philippines but Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam as well.

Availability of online shopping for everyone – Lazada is one of the first few local online shopping companies that opened the doors of e-commerce to the general population. The company successfully captured a huge chunk of the consumer market by providing payment services that are conducive to the payment capabilities of local online shopping patrons. They came up with the cash on delivery payment method that made online shopping a very easy activity to do comparable to regular shopping in traditional stores and shops. 

Lazada is continuously progressing and it takes the local economy along with and contributes to the betterment of the overall e-commerce industry.

How Lazada instigated positive change in the e-commerce industry

The increasing number of e-commerce websites and online shopping stores locally is an undeniable proof that the number of consumers who are slowly becoming accustomed to e-commerce is increasing and it is increasing very fast at a very rapid velocity that is probably close to the speed of sound. That is just me speaking metaphorically or figuratively again. The online shopping website that is on the limelight of Philippine e-commerce right now is lazada.com.ph.  The Company did positively impact the local e-commerce economy and there are lots of economic, social and cultural indicators to prove it. It also affected entrepreneurs in a positive way since e-commerce allows businessmen and people with entrepreneurial knack to set up shop at a very minimal overhead cost and investment. E-commerce is here to stay and it is the future of business. There are several indicators of Lazada’s impact like what we have said earlier. Those are economic, social and cultural indicators. Let us talk about the economic impacts first

Pricing of goods – The Company being in the online retail business is able to offer products at prices lower than regular outlets. Their business structure allows them to purchase products from suppliers at lower prices and pass on the savings to consumers. The consumers are the end beneficiaries here and it contributes to their economic well-being by allowing them to save their hard earned through the purchase of products at good and affordable price points

Quality of merchandise – Huge companies Like Lazada Philippines are always keen on maintaining high value and product quality because it is going to be detrimental and anathema to their success if they will not do so. Huge companies like this are always trying to woo and cajole customers to go and do business with them and they go to great lengths and do whatever it is that they can to preserve their customer reputation so they always make sure that they are putting great quality products out there. The end result again is that it benefits customers and allows them to squeeze every value from their money which has a diminutive but direct repercussion to their economic status.

On the positive cultural impact, and let us just reiterate that these impacts, the economic, social and cultural impacts are not stand alone entities, they are intertwined and they overlap. 

Acceptance of Online shopping as a way of doing business– Having online shopping companies like Lazada encourages sending and adoption of modern and western ways of living which in my opinion are very positive things because it boosts local businesses and thus impacts the overall economy positively.

The positive social impact overlaps with the positive cultural effect of the company, as more and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of online shopping. It also adds more boost to the morale and self-esteem of people especially those from the lower classes, as far-fetched as it may seem, online shopping is sort of a class equalizer where the lower class can do something that was once before confined to the upper class members of society