Lazada ramps up operations for Christmas season, 'online revolution'

MANILA - For Lazada, fashion, health and beauty, baby products and electronics are among the most sought after goods today from the 29 million products available online, its chief said Monday.

Lazada CEO Inanc Balci he himself said, he bought six months worth of toiletries including shampoo and tootppaste to take advantage of the ongoing 'online revolution.'

The e-commerce platform offers up to 95 percent discount during the promotion happening from Dec. 7 to Dec. 12, 2017. To keep up with the demand, the platform prepares three months in advance.

"We have 24/7 staff during the year, I think they go as much as 10x for certain divisions of the company, for example call center gets really big, warehouse it gets really really busy," Lazada CEO Inanc Balci told ANC's The Boss.

The Lazada founder banks on the country's potential to dominate the global e-commerce stage despite challenges when it comes to Internet connectivity.

"When you look a Philippines several years ago, its the biggest SMS capital, today, the social media capital, Philippines is number on in terms of Facebook penetration in the world, tomorrow it will be the e-commerce capital of the world in 5 to 10 years," he added.

With 10 million e-commerce users in the country, Lazada remains optimistic despite the expected decrease in sales after the holidays.

"It doesn’t die down but it goes to normal level, e-commerce industry is a multi-billion dollar industry in the Philippines anyways on the normal days," Balci said.

To drive the country's global e-commerce potential, Balci said, payment and banking system, fintechs, and logistics should be improved.

Next year, Lazada will open a warehouse in Mindanao to optimize operations in the region. Lazada, 
Balci said, is unfazed with the region's political unrest.

"It didn’t hinder, what we do is, we don’t see it as a business opportunity but as something that we have to give back," Balci said.

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

Lazada PH gets 7 million visits on 'birthday sale'

MANILA - Online shopping site Lazada said it recorded nearly 7 million visits from the Philippines during its four-day "birthday sale" held in March.

Lazada said the figure is eight times higher "than average traffic of one of the biggest shopping malls in the Philippines."

Lazada Philippines is celebrating its fourth year in operation, capped with a sale held from March 15 to March 18.

"The campaign was participated in by more than 2,300 SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) merchants and more than thirty local and international brand partners--all with special sale offers to online shoppers," the company said in a statement.

Among the top categories during the sale were Mobiles & Tablets, Health & Beauty, and Home & Living, where about 6,000 mobile phones, 2,000 bluetooth smartwatches and 1,500 hair straighteners were sold.

Lazada said it also sold over 4,500 packs of diapers online.

"A large bulk of orders came from Metro Manila, Cebu, and Cavite respectively. Orders were also recorded to have reached the Dinagat Islands, Sultan Kudarat and the Mountain Province," the firm said.

Lazada is planning to launch another app-exclusive sale from April 7-10.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Lazada sells 120,000 items amid online sale

MANILA - Lazada Philippines said it sold around 120,000 items to its Filipino customers after launching its "Online Revolution" sale on Wednesday, November 11.

The firm said it already exceeded its online sales records, with its sales increasing six times its October average.

Lazada Philippines posted the best uptake among all Southeast Asian countries where the online shopping site operates, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Over 5,000 units of smartphones were sold on Wednesday alone driven by discounted models of ASUS, Alcatel, Lenovo, and Cherry Mobile.

Lazada.com.ph registered 2.4 million visits on Wednesday, with 70 percent of total orders coming from areas outside of the National Capital Region.

Inanc Balci, Lazada co-founder and chief executive, earlier said the company is planning to open more hubs next year to cater to online shoppers outside Metro Manila.

"The orders are quite distributed evenly across the Philippines, we are not targeting Metro Manila only. Lazada is targeting everywhere," he said.

Lazada said around 60 percent of the orders on November 11 came from shoppers using mobile devices. Its mobile app was also downloaded over three times more on November 11 compared to its average downloads in October.

The online sale will be held from November 11 to December 12.

Lazada offers about a million products ranging from fashion items to appliances to mobile gadgets.

From November 13-18, the company will hold a "fashion week" to sell marked down items from brands such as Nike, Forever 21, and Calvin Klein, among others.

November 19-25 features the "beauty and family week"; "tech week" from November 26-December 2; and "lifestyle week" from December 3-9.

A "Grand Christmas Sale" will be held from December 10 to 12.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Lazada: No room for suspicious sellers

MANILA - Lazada Philippines warned merchants against selling fake products on the online shopping site.

Lazada Philippines co-founder and chief executive Inanc Balci said the company does not tolerate suspicious sellers, and will immediately remove their products if found guilty of selling fake items.

"In the event of any exceptional cases of suspicious product being sold on the platform, we take decisive action including investigating the merchant and removing the products from our website," Balci told ABS-CBNnews.com on Tuesday.

Lazada was recently sued by the Philippine distributor of Korean cosmetics brand Etude House for allegedly carrying fake products.

The products were sold through the Lazada Marketplace, a platform for third-party sellers.

Balci said the company removed the seller from the website after conducting an investigation.

"For this specific case, there is an ongoing legal proceeding and we are in no position to comment on the development of the case, but this is how we approach the problem," he said.

He added that Lazada merchants are contractually required to be fully compliant with Philippine laws and are obliged to continually assess their compliance with the laws.

Balci said Lazada has a 24-hour call center to address customer concerns, including authenticity issues.

"We take all feedback very seriously and we have zero-tolerance policy," he said.

The company is also implementing buyer protection and money-back guarantee policies.

"We are not here for the short term, we are not here to make profit out of this kind of [suspicious] transactions. For Lazada to be successful, we need our customers' trust, coming back to us," said Balci.

He noted that in the past, Lazada took down several suspicious sellers as a pre-emptive measure to protect online shoppers.

There are currently no Etude House products being sold on Lazada.com.ph.

But the Philippine distributor of Korean brand Etude House, Rosa Fioure House Corp., said it will pursue the criminal case against Lazada for violations of Sections 155, 168 and 169 of the Intellectual Property Code due to the selling and/or facilitating the sale of fake and/or counterfeit Etude House of Korea products.

The case has been filed before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Makati.

"We are pushing through with the case, we owe it to our consumers," the Philippine distributor said.

Etude House is a Korean cosmetics brand launched in the Philippines in 2009. It now has more than 40 stores nationwide.

Lazada, meanwhile, is owned by Rocket Internet and is one of the top B2C eCommerce market places in Southeast Asia.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

What to expect from Lazada's Chinese New Year sale

MANILA - Lazada Philippines is launching another mega-sale extravaganza on Tuesday, January 27, as a kick-off to the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations.

Inanc Balci, co-founder and chief executive officer of Lazada Philippines, said the online market is getting bigger and bigger as more Filipinos now shop online.

“This means Filipinos are realizing the benefits of mobile commerce,” he said during press briefing.

“With the traffic situation in Metro Manila becoming more problematic, I believe online shopping is the way to go here,” he added.

With the successful Online Revolution Month in December, Balci said they expect another big turnout on January 27 as Lazada is set to offer attractive shopping promotions such as discounts of as much as 88 percent on select best-selling items, flash sales and surprise items.

If you are curious as to what makes this Chinese New Year sale different from Lazada's previous promotions, here are a few teasers:

Balci said Lazada will raffle night vouchers to give lucky shopaholic nightowls additional discounts for best-selling items

There will be 16 hourly flash sales from 8 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. For competitive shoppers, there will be hourly contests and special prizes on the Lazada website on the Lazada Facebook page.

For deal hunters, Lazada will offer "killer" deals on best-selling tech and lifestyle items with discounts of as much as 88 percent.

Exclusive discount vouchers can also be availed from Lazada's partners such as Smart Bro, Citibank, BPI, BDO and Maybank.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

18 days to Christmas: Lazada holds big online sale

MANILA -- Lazada Philippines will hold the much-awaited online shopping extravaganza on December 12 highlighted by huge discounts, mind-blowing deals, and incredible brand partnerships all happening as early as 12 a.m. of December 12 in the Lazada Online Revolution.

Night owls can log on in the early hours for special night promotions only available between 12 midnight and 8 a.m., while shoppers can take advantage of killer deals and unbeatable hourly flash sales from 8 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.

Shoppers can find the things they want from mobile phones, tablets, gadgets and appliances to fashion, household goods, toys, and sports equipment and enjoy more than 80 percent discount on select best-selling items.

Inanc Balci, co-founder and chief executive officer of Lazada Philippines, said the event was inspired by its highly successful November online event.

“We kicked off the month-long Online Revolution sale in November but the best is yet to come. With 24 hours of unbeatable deals on 12 December, consumers are in for an unforgettable shopping experience,” Balci said.

Balci said they expect a bigger shopping online crowd during the holiday season, as consumers want to beat crowds, queues and the inconvenience of shopping in malls and busy shopping districts. With a wide range of product offerings all under one digital roof, consumers can shop effortlessly at Lazada without having to leave their home.

To join the shopping frenzy, simply log into www.lazada.com.ph/Online-Revolution to get the best deals of the year and subscribe to its Facebook Fan page.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com