Lazada Philippines: An online mall that matters to online consumers

After Lazada was launched in the Philippines, other online competitors showed up and online shopping started to emerge in the local online market. Looking a few years back when they weren't around online, Ecommerce was a flat industry in the Philippines. The local online users never thought of online shopping as their alternative option in shopping in the past. The local online users are more open in dealing at local online classified websites when they want to buy second hand items. For customers who want to buy brand new items, they usually go to traditional malls to buy it. Offline malls are actually part of our culture as we grew up visiting them when we want to buy something.

Surprisingly, we always forget that we can save more money and time in online shopping. So why do we need to choose online shopping nowadays? If local consumers opt for online shopping, they can do wherever and whenever they want. No more extra spending on travel costing since customers will no longer need to go traditional malls. It was of the challenge that they try to solve when they arrived in the country. It's also challenging for them to be able to tap the untapped market in online of the Philippines. Not being able to pay online since most of the population is credit cardholders at all. It's just that we also don't trust so easily especially when it involves money transactions. We are actually aware of the possibility of having online scams and frauds in online shopping. We don’t want our hard earned money to be put to waste. We are actually on the verge of the Ecommerce rise in the country. It's really hard to imagine that Lazada has only been here for more than a year yet it contributed dearly on the Ecommerce industry.

They just recently showed up on TVC on top local channels in the country during its primetime, which shows how credible they are. So how did they solve this Ecommerce barrier in the Philippines? The Philippines' Online Shopping Mall offered Cash on Delivery or more known as C.O.D. as an alternative payment method. This is very unconventional payment method that is presented by any online mall. This payment method is risky from a business standpoint for most online business owners. Payments are not usually required right away with payment method. What's great about this is that customers will only pay once they receive their orders. Customers can keep the payment up until they have received their orders in real time. The intention is to give their customers the impression that they won't be scammed. It’s pretty safe to say they are doing everything they can to prove to the local online consumers that they can be trusted. With their setup to their customers, they are on the disadvantage side, which is pretty rare to see from an online store. Conventionally, online stores have the upper hand between online deals.

Lazada: More payment option opportunities in online shopping

Paying online is usually a problem for most people in the Philippines. It requires us to give away our credit card details and personal information that may expose us from cyber identity theft. Some countries that are not familiar with online shopping even get confused.  For anyone who is new to paying online, it may require to take an extra effort on how to properly pay online and make sure you do it right. One mistake can actually end up overbilling you on your online transaction. It's a pain if you get billed incorrectly online and usually takes more days for processing. It is not so hard. You only pay what you paid for in real time. In this digital modern era, other options showed up online. Online shopping is one option that is now available. Energy and time can now be saved by not walking around the building just to shop. It's just Internet access and Internet capable device that you'll ever need if you want to shop. You can access their website anytime just to know what they are offering. In the Philippines, it's actually different.

We were not used to online shopping a couple of years ago. Local online users barely use the Internet for shopping. Mostly they were initially used for entertainment such as hanging on Social Media websites, blogging, video streaming and etc. But what was missing then is the option to shop online as well like how other countries have made it available to their local online community. However, it took a while before Ecommerce Since most of us are not credit card owners, it was hard to pay online the conventional way. This made Ecommerce grow a little slower as compared to other countries. It was challenging for Ecommerce to penetrate the local online market. It made it easier for the penetration of Ecommerce when website like Lazada arrived.

The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall actually made it to the point that online shopping is now positively perceived as decent option for the customers. Since they offer Cash on Delivery or C.O.D., customers who don't have credit cards can still shop online. Customer can just leave their shipment address and name thru Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. The Philippines’ Online Shopping Mall will only require their customers to pay once their orders are delivered at their doorstep. Cash on Delivery in online is actually first introduced by them. It was actually offered before in the past by fast food chains, but since it was offered online, it dearly helped the growth of Ecommerce. This made us understand that online shopping can make our shopping much easier. After they arrived, other local online mall were established one by one. As there shopping options showed up, it now gives us more alternatives in shopping. We can now freely choose when and where we want to shop. It can be as easy as shopping on our own smartphone. It is that easy!

Lazada PH: Plugging success in local Ecommerce

It was during the second quarter when website like Lazada came into the picture. It is supported by Rocket Internet and is owned by the Samwer brothers. On top of Philippines, they are also available in other South East Asia countries. It helped that the economy was doing great prior to their arrival, which led them to tap our Ecommerce industry. They are actually trying to replicate the success they got from other ventures. Online shopping is actually old for other countries to the point that it is part of their lifestyle. The industry in Ecommerce was still raw before they were launched in the country. One reason why Ecommerce was slow is because there are only a few who can purchase online. Most of us only have below average Internet connection. Owners of credit cards are only limited. It is usually through credit cards that an online payment can be done. Customers who pay thru credit cards are the most acceptable among the other online payments. It is an alternative payment method that changed the online shopping payment system. Established offline businesses are now entering the online space as well since they have arrived.

After local businessmen felt Lazada’s presence, they now appreciate online presence a little bit more. It was really hard to penetrate the local online market that's why Ecommerce really struggled to get up on its feet.  As for the people who have the privilege to conduct online shopping via conventional online payment method, they are afraid to expose their details online. For some of them who can pay online the conventional way, they were afraid of exposing the personal details online. The growth of Ecommerce was so slow because of these online shopping woes. It was local classifieds online that made an impact in the local scene initially. It was online malls that faced more challenges in the local online industry. A lot of the local Internet users never considered them as an alternative shopping option. At times, most of these online stores are even considered scam or fraud regardless if they have tried shopping at those stores or not. It’s a truly sad sentiment given that a lot of online businesses are really trying their best to help the local Ecommerce in the country.

Online shopping was still uncommon, that's why no one seriously invested in the country in Ecommerce. In order to counter the Ecommerce drought, Lazada launched full blown online marketing campaigns. You can pretty much see them everywhere online. Their brand quickly catapulted as one of the elites with their massive online advertisement executions. One reason why customers like them is that they offer a full package experience in online shopping. Their alternative payment method Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. comes with Free Delivery availability as well. It offers manufacturer's warranty that is at par with what traditional mall gives out to their customers. To sum it up, it’s pretty much close to what a traditional offline mall offers to their customers just happen that it is offered online, which is more convenient and easier for customers.

Lazada: How to tap on the local online market in the Philippines

It can't be helped that online shopping is now drastically rising in the country. Surprisingly, these are a shock for most of us when we think on how it was looked down upon by most local online users. One reason is that online and offline scams happen to often in the country. As a result, everyone in the country always reconsiders transactions online. Initially, local online classified ads were the top websites in the country in the buy and sell industry. They actually paved way for the arrival local online malls in the country. They eventually created a marketplace community in the local online scene. When online classified weren't available yet, local online users didn't have an option online. It was to check the industry price value of items that users want to buy. These drastically helped buyers to price check any items they want to buy or sell in the future. From a seller standpoint, it makes it easier for them to find their target customers. As from a buyer standpoint, they get to choose which best price they can get for the item they want.

It paved way for local online users to maximize the usage of Internet. It became a marketplace for local online users for buying and selling. This allowed local online users to have more options on which third party resellers will they are dealing with. Final deal happens offline most of the time. Group buying websites also has its fair share for the local online user behavior. This strengthens the preparation of local online users for the Ecommerce industry. Upon the arrival of the Ecommerce websites, local online users were already prepared for online dealing. So it is safe to say that these initial online industries somehow paved way for the coming of Ecommerce rise in the Philippines.

The fact that local online users have more to gain in online shopping pushed them in trying online shopping. Through group buy websites, local online users had a taste of great deals that is rarely found nowadays. Their prices were way below the SRP that customers will have a hard time to pass. Last year, Lazada Online mall was launched in the Philippines. They are an online shopping mall venture launched in South East Asia. They are being back by Rocket Internet, which is owned by Samwer brothers. Lazada Online Mall made an impact in Ecommerce thru their flexible payment methods. Their payment method gave customers option on which payment they find more suiting.

Traditionally, credit card payments and PayPal payment are the most common payment method allowed by conventional online stores. This actually hurts the potential of customer pushing through with their orders since most of them can't pay thru these conventional online payments. They actually offered Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. as an alternative payment to their customers. As a result, this allowed them to tap the market that is still wary of online shopping. This is actually the majority market or audience in the country. It allowed the Ecommerce to grow with this market now included.

Lazada PH: The rising Ecommerce website in the company

It’s has been a challenging market for any investor in the Philippines when it comes to putting up an online business. Investing on the Ecommerce industry in South East Asia is really no joke in the past. The capable to pay online market audience were actually still very low at that time. Most of them are not even credit card owners. As for the minority credit card owners, not all of them are willing to pay via online. It's no surprise that it's the reaction in South East Asia since online frauds and scams happen most of the time. It's actually more credible to deal with offline businesses rather than online businesses we often get a feeling that dealing offline face-to-face is much better than not seeing who you are dealing with in online. Sadly, most of us are considering that they are actual legit online stores that we are overlooking.

Usually, online malls offer better discounts and pricing since they don’t pay for their store rent like how offline malls do. Online stores making them a more enticing option regularly offer discounts and promos. They really need to offer it to get noticed by the customers and try online shopping as an alternative. Lazada is one of those online mall website who is also available across South East Asia. They are one of the first in the country to offer the biggest selections among the local online stores in the Philippines. It was the first time that Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. was offered by an online store, which they introduced here in the country.  Although, this may have been widely used in the past by another industry, which is the food delivery industry. This mark the first time any online mall in the country has offered that.

This paved way for them to become one of the key players in the online shopping industry. Recently, they just celebrated their first ever anniversary and already achieved so much. Upon their arrival on the country, that's when their competitors showed one by one. Upon their arrival in the Philippines, clearly showed that they now realize the potential of the local Ecommerce industry. We can only watch as online shopping takes off in the coming years. They won the favor of the local customers through their unconventional approach as an online store in the country.

Now that they have Cash on Delivery, they now tap customers that can’t pay in credit card. This eventually multiplied the numbers of their market since almost everyone can now become their customers. They even offer free delivery availability as long as the transaction value exceeds one thousand pesos. Shipment fees will be waived as long as transaction is not lower than one thousand pesos. It's is much easier for them to convince customers to choose online shopping rather than offline shopping since they can combine Cash on Delivery or C.O.D. and Free Delivery. This combination was the game-changing factor for online users to try online shopping.