Lazada Philippines aims for ‘inflation-proof’ platform

E-commerce giant Lazada aims to “inflation-proof” its platform with vouchers and competitive pricing.

In a recent interview with reporters, Lazada Philippines chief executive officer Carlos Barrera said rising inflation is a worldwide trend but the company is “very lucky" because of its "strong supply chain.”
 
Barrera said that while commodity prices continue to increase, the “hundreds of thousands” of local sellers and international brands on its platform continue to provide competitive prices.
 
“We’re aiming, in a way, to be inflation-proof because we continue to innovate and invest in this market, through vouchers and better pricing together with our brands and sellers,” he said.

“We are in the business of creating affordable promotions, and we are working closely with our sellers. We believe that with the right tools and the right levels of investments, we can protect our customers from [inflation],” he added.
 
Barrera said that Lazada Philippines also invested in providing cash backs and free shipping.

“Today, the majority on our platform [are eligible for free shipping], and this is something that has completely transformed the rules of the game. Everybody knows that when they use Lazada, they’re most likely to get free shipping because that’s the expectation,” he said.
 
The Lazada Philippines chief also said the company will continue to invest in improving the customer experience, particularly in logistics.

“When you look at the development of e-commerce over the last two years, the reality is some of the other markets have already reached a very high penetration rate. But, the Philippines is still one of the markets with a slightly lower penetration rate, being a country that has more than 7,000 islands, very diverse and a lot of logistics challenges,” Barrera said.
 
Asked how much money Lazada will invest in the country, he said, “It’s very hard to provide the exact figures, but definitely we are talking about very large investments that are very long term commitments.”
 
“So when we are thinking of investments, we are not talking [about] investing for today… they are multi-year investments,” he said.
 
Barrera said the Philippines is one of the priority markets for Lazada and “one of the fastest growing markets when you look at the development of e-commerce over the last 10 years.”

“E-commerce is much bigger than any other market because it’s very easy to service the country and there [are] a lot more opportunities,” he said. — VBL, GMA News