A relatively recent arrival as a player in the electronic commerce industry is intent on becoming the first and foremost online shopping firm in the whole of the Philippines by the close of this year. Led by no less than five managing directors, all of whom have different nationalities including the likes of Brazilian, Danish, Filipino, Italian and Turkish, Lazada Philippines is owned by Rocket Internet GmbH, a company based out of Germany.
As the company’s managing director has stated in interviews with journalists, Lazada is an online shopping company, which sells a wide range of consumer items such as bed and bathroom accessories; computers, electronics and perfume and travel bags. The company caters to the entirety of Metro Manila, with third party delivery services also available across the islands. One the five managing directors of the firm, Mattia Perroni, says that the goal is to be the Philippines’ number one electronic commerce company.
Quick business success
Perroni, who comes from Italy, says that the goal of the company can be achieved off of the back of the passion and high energy on the part of its employees, the quality of the products which are offered by the firm and the very attractive market in the Philippines. Perroni says that only three people were involved in the company when it first began as recently as just the January of this year and now it has more than 260 employees working for it, an amazingly quick business development. As a model of business growth, this approach is bound to interest any e commerce manager, web content manager or e commerce analyst looking at market innovation.
Low overheads keep costs low
“We have one single location,” says Turkish Inanc Balci, who notes that because of their low overhead costs they are able to keep the price of their products low. “We can afford to keep costs low.” Balci is the man in charge of sourcing electronic products and adds that the firm also has a network of suppliers, which believe in the company. “The economic indicators are super good,” he notes. “Philippines is growing great. To start an e‑commerce company, the Philippines is a perfect country.”