ONLINE shopping provider Lazada said on Monday that it is targeting to at least maintain its hold of the local e-commerce industry as the market is seen contracting following its continuous growth.
“It’s natural that the market may [eventually] go down because it is going to be significantly bigger [in the coming years]. But we will do everything we can to maintain our market share,” Lazada Philippines CEO Inanc Balci told the BusinessMirror during the company’s media appreciation event in Makati City.
The company currently accounts for over 80 percent of the e-commerce sector in the country.
It is estimated that the Philippine e-commerce is around 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent, or $34 million to $51 million of the total of $17 billion nonfood and nontravel retail sales in 2015.
“In five years, we predict this number is going to be big,” he said, while noting that the rate will likely be the same as those in China and other countries in the previous years.
For instance, he cited that the e-commerce penetration in the world’s most populous nation rose from 0.2 percent in 2006 to 4 percent in 2011.
“So, in terms of market size in 2020, the retail market is going to be $110 billion, and e-commerce market is going to be around $5 billion [or $4.4 billion to be exact]. It’s going to be a large market,” the CEO bared.
“To achieve such goal, Lazada Philippines will continue to invest in the three main pillars of its business, such as large assortment, low price and best service,” according to the top executive.
Over the last four weeks, Balci said they have added 200,000 products for assortment, thus, bringing the inventory to a total of 1.2 million items at present.
He said they will keep on working with their merchants and suppliers to provide low prices to their customers and, at the same time, continue investing in their operational infrastructure so as to provide better service to customers.
“That is the first level of growth. The second is coming from the organic market growth,” he said, referring to constant economic growth, increasing disposable income of Filipinos and strong Internet and smartphone penetration nationwide. “These are going to contribute to very aggressive growth of e-commerce in the Philippines.”
At present, Lazada Philippines is banking on the success of its ongoing online shopping event in time for the Yuletide season.
Dubbed “Online Revolution,” this offering, with a three-day Grand Christmas Sale finale from December 10 to 12, gives shoppers as much as 95-percent discount from various brands.
The company reported that this online sales generated 2.4 million visits and over 120,000 items purchased on its web site and mobile app on November 11.
Balci said they are bullish to surpass these numbers before the year ends as it revealed further markdowns on its holiday best sellers for the concluding period of the shopping extravaganza.