Daraz continues growth amid pandemic
On November 11 this past year, online shopping platform Daraz sold Tk 8.5 crore-worth products within the first 45 minutes of a 24-hour shopping event stemming from a marketing idea on encouraging persons to spend money on themselves.
However, the sales figure was dwarfed by its parent company, Alibaba Group, which reached $1 billion for gross merchandise in the first about a minute and eight seconds on the unofficial Singles Day, presumed to have been founded by Chinese students.
The figure has then ballooned to $12 billion following the first hour of the shopping blitz.
As part of the business's policy, Daraz will not disclose its sales figures, Syed Mostahidal Hoq, managing director of Daraz Bangladesh, told The Daily Star.
But once Alibaba's instruction comes, it'll disclose the sales figure, he said.
Alibaba's 11.11 sales figures, which is thought to have totalled $38 billion this past year, includes the sales of its subsidiaries, including Daraz.
In the upcoming Eleven Eleven shopping spree, Daraz is set to make over fifty percent a million deliveries, making it the largest online single-day shopping festival in Bangladesh.
"The orders in the Singles Day sales increased 10 to 12 times that of normal day deliveries. It's a huge event for a country where only less than one per cent retail sales originates from e-commerce," said Hoq.
Daraz says it now receives 50,000 orders per day.
Online shoppers in Bangladesh apparently wait eagerly for the function mainly for hefty discounts.
Daraz started the sales event in Bangladesh in 2018, when, in a surprise move, the China-based global e-commerce giant Alibaba, acquired Daraz Group's procedures in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
In Bangladesh, Daraz witnessed fourfold growth on 11.11 sales year-on-year in 2019. It anticipates similar trends in growth this year.
"As Bangladesh has over 10 crore internet surfers, we have so far explored only over 10 % of the market. So, there is an enormous chance of the e-commerce platform to grow and expand," said Hoq.
Daraz have become 100 % annually within the last four years regarding customer and order numbers as Alibaba counts these two parameters while measuring growth.
The e-commerce platform was hit hard for some weeks since late March, when the united states went into lockdown. It lost around 5,000 of its import-dependent merchants soon after travel bans were issued all over the world so that you can curb the spread of coronavirus.
But then in May, the company added more than 10,000 local retailers to its platform.
"As coronavirus has taken a major socio-economic impact all over the world, Bangladesh is no exception," said Hoq.
"For lockdowns in March, the quantity of products on Daraz witnessed a steep fall, decreasing to only 3 lakh from 1 crore as the majority of sellers were unable to source, supply and manufacture products for movement restrictions and the general shutdown," he said.
To combat the changing situation and support buyers and sellers, Daraz increased the number of packaging stations, drop-off and collection points it had.
However, it prioritised home deliveries with the reasoning that customers were reluctant to emerge from their homes.
It also stated to undertake some initiatives to benefit sellers. Since May, the quantity of sellers on the platform started to rebound. Now, it has 33,000 sellers, up from 20,000 in 2019.
Daraz says it regarded the last quarter of a year -- October to December -- as the campaign quarter, starting it off with a 10.10 sales campaign in October resembling the 11.11 on November 11, one marking Black Friday on November 25 and concluding with a year-end sale.
It prepared for Singles Day from early May to the finish of August.
As part of the groundwork for the campaign, Daraz have evaluated customer experience and changes in purchasing habits for the pandemic-induced financial hardship so that it might develop products and will be offering that best suits the consumers.
"Since decreased imports of gadgets created a huge demand for laptops and other gadgets, Daraz is attracting adequate way to obtain those products thanks to Alibaba's strong supply chain and Daraz's existence in other South Parts of asia," he added.
"Now, we are ready for the largest online sales event in the united states."
It'll launch some exciting products for Eleven Eleven, including two handset types of a new brand and some handsets from Realme and Samsung.
"The pricing will be low in order that the pandemic-hit businesses may survive on a great sales volume, helping its sellers to recuperate from losses incurred within the last month or two," he added.
Through the daylong sale event on November 11, customers should be able to avail large discounts on some 10 million products on the platform.
You will have special attractions such as pre-sale discounts and a "Tk 11 Mystery Box", which is actually an undisclosed item one can purchase as a surprise for Tk 11.
Free delivery offers are also expected from sellers of specific brands and products.
Apart from this, there will be a pre-sale campaign from November 4 to November 10, when select products will be available at prices less than what it would be through the 11.11 campaign.
Moreover, customers will receive a chance to win a Toyota Aqua if they play a "1 Taka Game".
According to Hoq, smartphones, televisions, home appliances and fashion items, including clothing, accessories, watches, perfumes, interior decor items and sports items, will be the highest-selling items this year.
Additional discounts can be found from Brac Bank, City Bank, Eastern Bank Limited, Mercantile Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and bKash along with cash return offers.
Hoq also shared Daraz's ongoing activities and future plans with The Daily Star.
Daraz is transforming some villages into e-commerce hubs. Those villages would allegedly feature logistics, facility and training to inspire farmers to try online sales of farm produce and local specialties.
It is said to closely resemble Alibaba's Taobao Villages, which comprise a number of e-commerce shops built-in small villages, enabling villagers to both purchase products and sell goods online.
Daraz has create over 4,500 centres where customers who are lagging behind in technology can order products online and introduce various training programmes for sellers.
The integration with Alibaba has mainly brought changes to the technological side.
"Prior to the acquisition, we considered ourselves as simply a marketplace and after Alibaba's overtaking, we are broadening our vision, focusing on creating a much better ecommerce ecosystem in the country as well as creating a countrywide logistic infrastructure," said Hoq.
As part of that vision, in early June, Daraz announced its plans to invest Tk 500 crore by 2021 in Bangladesh to create logistics infrastructure and hubs that could help expand its footprint to all or any 64 districts.
"A big chunk of the investment was already utilised on different purposes, like the purchase of over 100 vehicles, facilitating Daraz to mail products to 50 districts of the united states through its conveyances. Now we include the logistic infrastructure that Alibaba uses," said Hoq.
It is also now building a sorting centre which is 2 lakh square feet in area and a warehouse of the same size with an investment of about Tk 150 crore, making both greatest in Bangladesh and employing around 2,000 people.
