Market Place: How to sell in Lazada?

Let's start first with What is Lazada?

Founded by Maximilian Bittner (with the backing of Rocket Internet), Lazada was established in 2012 with the intention of becoming the Amazon of South East Asia... because why not? there is an approximately 670 million people in South East Asia! It is a big cake to eat.

After 8 years since they have launched it, Lazada has expanded its operations to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In March 2016, Lazada recorded a total of $1.36 billion in annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) across its six markets in Southeast Asia, making it the largest E-commerce player in the area!

Next question is Why do I need to sell in Lazada?

There is a current boom in E-commerce in South East Asia even before the pandemic have swelled up this year. To convince you more, there is an increasing purchasing power, growing tech-savvy generation and on-going urbanization which are good enough reasons as to why we need to think about this. The market place has positioned itself to capture the strong demand for online shopping especially now due to the pandemic, it is more safe and convenient to shop in the comforts of our homes in just a few clicks.

Convince me more! What are the advantages of online selling?

• Easy Access - All you need is a computer or a phone connected to a stable internet connection and then you can start selling online within minutes. That's how powerful technology is!
  

• Low Overhead Expenses - No more overhead on brick and mortar rental! No need to keep a payroll on staff (unless if online operation expands then a staff is needed). The expenses that you will have (based on my experience) for selling in Lazada are Accountant salary (this is needed because Lazada only allows legit businesses to engage in their market place to lessen incidences of fraud and counterfeit), Marketing cost (social media ads as example), and Third-Party Shipper (optional for entrepreneurs that have time to be hands-on). I am not based in the Philippines and to have it possible for me to sell in Lazada, I have two options. The options are to sell through FBL or fulfillment by Lazada (this works like FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon) and through third party shipper (similar to FBL but the company has broader added services such as storage, inventory and shipment across all sales channels). Either of the options, they both have passive strategy which is advantageous for Entrepreneurs to leverage their time when it comes to business operations.
  

• Potential for Growth - With millions of people in the internet, Lazada is a powerful tool to use to be able to reach your desired market while drinking coffee and sitting in front of your computer. This is so far from traditional brick and mortar business because if you work harder on making your brand have a good digital presence (especially on social media) then there is unimaginable potential for growth!
  

• Wide Market - Unlike a traditional brick and mortar business, selling online enables you to sell beyond the local market with ease. This gives you a competitive advantage in capturing a larger share!
  

• Customer Analytics - The best thing about technology is that there are so many cool and easy to use marketing tools which provide you significant information such as customer demographics. This gives you an insight to know more about the market you are targeting!

Finally you are convinced... so How to get started on Lazada?

It is easy to create an account in Lazada and it is absolutely FREE! There are no product listing fees. It will only charge you for sales commission. It will take approximately 2-3 days to get things started and an on-boarding training will be provided to teach you about things such as uploading a product to managing orders. If there will be obstacles along the way, their customer service is quick to respond (so far in my experience!). Aside from the on-boarding training, there are plenty of information about Marketing, Accounting, Logistics to name a few in Lazada University. There is no reason to fail!

What other things do I need?

Aside from Lazada account creation, the other things that you need to prepare are business registration (along with the business bank account), an accountant (for your taxes) and a third-party shipper (if you will follow my route). The third-party shipper is optional for people who have the time to be hands-on in managing orders and shipping the parcels. Lastly, of course, the product that you will be selling!

With all of these in place, then you are ready to go to start your own online selling business! What are you waiting for?