Lazada: Committed to make online shopping customer friendly

Internet usage has been part of our daily activities for so long now. It has elevated our way of doing things. It makes our usual offline tasks and activities regardless if its for work or personal much more convenient and fast. This paved way for much offline business to offer their business to the online audience as well. Sadly, Ecommerce was not highly considered in the past by most local online users in the country. But ever since Lazada came into the picture, other local online business was put to live as online shopping started to roll upwards.

The Ecommerce industry was not growing if you go back a few years from their launch. For most local online users, online shopping is not highly considered option for them. For second hand items, local online users visit online classified websites to buy to what they are looking for. Brand new seekers conventionally go to traditional offline malls when they want to buy something. Actually, it is expected from us since we grew up shopping on traditional offline malls by our parents. Time, energy and money can be saved if local online consumers go with online shopping. How can online shopping really benefit us as consumers? They can do online shopping wherever they find most suiting for them.

Customers will no longer need to visit location traditional malls saving them money on transport expense. This is one of the customer woes that the online malls wanted to solve for the local online consumers. They were also facing an issue on how they can also tap the untapped market in online. Most of the population in the country is actually non-credit cardholders; therefore they are unable to pay online. It's also no secret that most of us finds online transactions unreliable. For most of us, we are aware that in online transactions, frauds and scams may also be possible. The local Ecommerce industry in the country is now expanding. In just less than a year, the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall was able to establish themselves in the local Ecommerce industry. For them to show their customers that they are real, they came out on TVC during primetime on top local channels.

How were they able to come up with a solution to break the Ecommerce limitation in the Philippines? They called Cash on Delivery or C.O.D offered an alternative payment. This payment method is very unconventional to be offered in online. From an online business owner's point, it is very risky on their part. It is not a requirement for their online customers to pay right away with this payment method. This is a huge thing for their customers as they can try shopping on their website without risking or committing to anything with them. Their online customers can pay after they have received their orders in real time. It's a worry-free setup since customers can hold their money until their orders arrives at their home. The intention is to make sure that their customers will be at ease with their online shopping with them.

Lazada PH: Online lifestyle of Filipinos nowadays

People have always been accustomed in shopping whether it is for luxury or necessity buying. Online shopping is a great alternative for us in addresses our shopping needs. The local consumers get an upper hand since time of availability won't matter anyone. They are just usually alive during night. These are the people who don’t have time during daylight and are at work at night. They are only free when malls are closed. Even if these people want to visit traditional malls, they can't. It's only during holidays or weekends when they can visit these traditional malls. People who live this kind of lifestyle gets a hard time compared if they work on a normal shift. Now that they online shopping as an option, they can shop whenever they want. Most offline business is now being made available to online as well. This only started to roll since last year in the Philippines.

By the time Lazada had arrived in the country, their competitors showed up from nowhere. This makes them one of the first online malls to service the local online users. You can also check them on other South East Asia countries. The industry of Ecommerce has risen after they arrived in the country. It's safe to say that they made a huge impact on the local Ecommerce industry. As they arrived in the country, other local online stores were put to live in no time. What’s sad is that local businessmen needed an International company that believes in online business before they started to jump in the online bandwagon.

Actually, the competition is very low in the country so it only made sense for them to launch it here. What makes it challenging for them is how they will lure local Internet users to their online mall. Local online users that are why it was harder for online malls to turn visitors to customers did just not regard online payment dearly. What makes it difficult for them is that their credit card and personal information are exposed online. People with credit cards in the Philippines are actually hard to come by. It slowed down the Ecommerce growth in the country. It doesn't mean that most local online users are not familiar with online payments. We usually think of risk first and disregard the reward that we may get if we push through with dealing on online malls.

It's just simple and easy; we don't want to give online malls a chance especially if it’s still new to our ears. Most of the time, we consider them as a scam the minute we see them online. The issues are the reasons why Ecommerce is a challenging business in the Philippines. The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall solved these issues in the local Ecommerce market. Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. was introduced to Lazada' local online customers as their alternative payment method. Unlike other online malls, this won't require customers to pay right away.

Lazada: No need to worry in online shopping

Before, online malls in the country can’t be barely counted or none at all. Competition in online malls started to show up and online shopping started to be noticed by local online users ever since Lazada came into the picture in the Philippines. The industry of Ecommerce in the Philippines was quite low before they arrived in the country. Online shopping was actually not a highly regarded option for most users in the past. For local consumers who want to buy second hand items, they usually visit local online classified ad websites. Conventionally, customers prefer to go on traditional mall when they want to purchase something brand new. It's actually not surprise since we all grew up going to traditional offline malls when we need something.

In online shopping, we fail to realize that we can actually save our time and money. How can online shopping actually give us more benefits? Local customers can actually shop anywhere you want with online shopping. They can actually save more in gas expense since no longer will they need to visit the mall's location. It is one of the issues that Lazada was facing when they established their online mall website in the country. They are also facing an issue on how they can tap the untapped local online market in the country. This was a large portion of the population that is almost over 80% of the people in the country. This is the reason why previous Ecommerce business in the country failed to thrive since they were unable to tap the entire or most of the market in the country disregarding if its offline or online.

It was probably due majority of the population no owning a credit card, which is the most common payment method in online. Having a culture that doesn’t trust online transactions also has contributions to it. Probably it is because we are aware of the existence of online frauds and scams. The online shopping industry in the country is actually on the rise. To see the progress of Lazada online mall making an impact on the local Ecommerce is quite amazing. One proof to realize that they are as legit as they can be is they can be seen on TVC during primetime from top local TV networks in the country.

Given the limitations in Ecommerce, how did they solve it? They offered Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. to their customers as an alternative payment method. It's an online payment option that is not offered by online stores usually. It's actually a very risky payment method that not all online stores are willing to gamble. Customers are not actually required to pay upfront; instead they can pay once their orders are delivered at their homes. They only require customers to pay as their orders are handed over to them. No need for customers to worry since they get to keep their money up until they receive their orders. This is to kill the perception of local online users that shopping at their mall is safe and secured.

How Lazada managed to survive in the local Ecommerce industry

Online shopping is now a rising trend in the country now that it has become popular to the local online users. A lot of us never envision online shopping as an accepted option dating a couple of years back. Most of us are aware that we have a high frauds and scams in the country for both online and offline. This made online transaction look very bad to most of the people online. It is why it had a lot of negative impression in the local online community.  What was the closest considered in Ecommerce was local online classified websites. It helped the arrival of online malls in the country. These top local classifieds online created a marketplace community in online.

It was difficult for online users to buy online when local online classified websites didn't exist yet. It has become a venue for online users to check the price of the item they want before visiting malls. It changed how online users perceive Internet connection on a more diverse aspect. A lot of small business used this buy and sell platform. It's very different from Ecommerce since local online users deal with third party resellers. Customers do Offline transactions most of the time. Group buying type of websites also influenced local online users.

They showed the way for the Ecommerce websites in the country. By the time they arrived in the country, local online users were sort of familiar on how to deal online with Ecommerce websites. Local online users have a lot to gain than loss. Great deals were mostly found on group by websites by local online users. The offered deals of group buy websites were so great that it will be hard for customers to not try them out. Last year, Lazada Philippines arrived in the country. An online mall ventures available across South East Asia. It is backed by the Samwer brothers and is under the Rocket Internet umbrella. By offering various payment methods, Lazada helped the Ecommerce grow in the country. Although this payment method is widely used in the country already on other industries such as offline food delivery, this is the first time to be offered in online.

With so many payment methods, each of their customers will find something that they will fit them best. Credit cards and PayPal are usually the online payment method accepted by most online stores. Both credit card and PayPal payments are usually a problem for local online customers since they don't possess any of the two. The online payment method Cash on Delivery helped customers to avail online payment more. It allowed them to tap the untapped market online in the Philippines. Actually, the majority of the local market is this one in the Philippines. Ecommerce is now rising with this recently tapped market included in the customer mix. It actually is the main reason why the Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall managed to reach continues success in the country unlike other malls that only offer conventional online payments.

Lazada: They are here to stay!

In the Philippines, the trend of online shopping is now on the rise. A lot of the local online users are open to the possibility of availing shopping online services in the country. This is actually not expected in the past as Filipinos have a very traditional culture and is very wary of changes. It’s true that a couple of years ago, shopping online were a risk to most of us. One factor is that both online and offline scams have a high rate here in the country. This made online transactions unattractive for most local online users. Initially, local online users went to top local online classified websites in the buy and sell industry. The arrival of local online malls in the country was actually prepared by these local online classifieds. Buy and sell websites eventually help build a marketplace community. When people want to buy something online, they didn't have option yet when local online classifieds didn't exist yet. It became a website for canvasing the market price of the item they want to buy offline. This usage allowed Internet users to find online more diverse in use. This online ad websites became a platform for people who wants to buy and sell.

Local online users deal with third party resellers, unlike in Ecommerce. It's most likely that transaction is being done offline by third party resellers. Group buying websites also had the same influence on the local online users. They help lead the preparation of local online users for the Ecommerce industry in the Philippines. By the time of Ecommerce website launching, local online users were already prepared. People consider online shopping probably due to the fact that the reward is higher than risk. Group buy websites showcased great deals that can't be found from others. With lower prices being offered by group buy websites, it made it harder for local online users to refuse them.

Lazada Philippines was eventually launched in the country last year. It is only one of the online store ventures that are available across South East Asia. Rocket Internet owned by the Samwer brother’s supports them. They made significant impact in the local Ecommerce industry with their offering of unconventional offline payment methods. These online payment methods help customers decide which is more suiting on their payment capabilities. Online stores conventionally accept only credit card or PayPal payment. The conventional way of online payment is actually hard for most local customers since they don't have either of the two conventional payment method online.  This online mall’s Cash on Delivery or more known as C.O.D. was offered to the local online users. The payment method allowed Lazada online store to tap the untapped market in the Philippines. This is actually the majority market in the Philippines. This allowed the Ecommerce industry to reach new heights now that these markets are tapped for online. With the continued increase in online users, it seems this online store is here to stay to cater to new online users.