The Philippine e-commerce market has matured, and customers now expect more from online shopping sites. This led to the introduction of the same-day delivery (SDD) scheme.
Same-day delivery is not a new concept. Other e-commerce platforms, like Amazon in the US, have already implemented it for quite some time. However, the introduction of same-day delivery in the Philippines is relatively recent. For instance, Lazada’s scheme started in 2022.
In an interview by ABS-CBN News with Lazada CEO Carlos Barrera, he mentioned how the market has matured, and people now expect more from e-commerce, which Lazada wants to improve.
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Barrera highlighted that Lazada is now doing 14-hour delivery in most of the country and doing a lot of same-day delivery feedback from Manila. This is a massive improvement from the previous two- or three-day delivery, which is much longer in provinces.
The CEO mentioned that one very significant catalyst that has fast-tracked Lazada’s growth was the global health crisis, when most people can’t go out of their houses to shop at physical stores and malls.
He also identified the change they have seen in people’s behavior in terms of e-commerce.
“They’re buying more, but they’re buying different things. They’re coming much more often, but maybe they’re not buying all the super large ticket sizes. But there are entire categories where they come, and we’ve seen that the average last night user is now coming, on average, 6,7, 8, times per month, so way more often,” he explained.
Barrera also mentioned that they achieved their first EBIDTA-positive fiscal year, indicating a very healthy business, including their fast expansion in Mindanao and a new office in Davao. However, they don’t plan on chasing profits just yet. Instead, they promise to double down on growth.