E-commerce firm Lazada has, for the first time, chartered flights to deliver to Filipinos overseas purchases bought from its online platform during the record-breaking year-end shopping festival.
Lazada, in a statement, said two flights from Hong Kong were chartered this month to expedite delivery of up to 200 tonnes of parcels purchased on its 12.12 (Dec 12) year-end sale.
The first chartered flight, a cargo plane operated by Emirates, arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Dec 18. The other flight was on Dec 21.
“We are marking another milestone not only for Lazada but also for the country’s e-commerce industry,” Lazada Philippines chief executive officer for operations/logistics Juan Pavez said.
“This is just one of the many ways we are ready to deliver on our promise of a seamless shopping experience,” he added.
The chartered flights carried purchases from Lazada’s Taobao Collection and overseas merchants. Launched in the Philippines a year ago, Taobao Collection offers curated items from Alibaba’s marketplace previously unavailable to Filipino shoppers. Lazada Group is majority-owned by China’s Alibaba Group.
“Through our cross-border operations, we can give Filipino shoppers more product choices and make items accessible at their fingertips,” Pavez said.
“The chartered flights, meanwhile, allow for the shipment of large volumes of parcels at once and, thus, enable Lazada to deploy them for last-mile delivery at the shortest time possible,” he added.
Across Southeast Asia, Lazada was able to deliver more than 1 million parcels in a day for the first time ever, as it drew a whopping 1.3-billion visits to its platforms during the 11.11 (November 11) and 12.12 shopping festivals.
The buying frenzy, which started from the one-day sale last November 11, continued into December. It crushed the region’s 11.11 online sales records, as all six countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—outperformed expectations.
During 12.12, Lazada Philippines rang up sales tally that was more than 20 times its normal-day gross merchandise value.
Shoppers took advantage of more than 55 million deals and exclusive discounts spread across three themed days; Bestsellers of 2018 (held December 10), Holiday Shopping Finale (December 11), and Lazada’s Top Picks (December 12). To enhance their shopping experience, shoppers were also treated to specially curated daily shopping themes.
In the Philippines, the most popular brands to make it to the Lazada Top Brand Leaderboard included Huggies for diapers; Promil for milk formula; Fitflop for fashion; Maybelline for makeup; Olay for skincare; Union for home appliances; and Xiaomi for mobile phones.
Nine in 10 shoppers across the region ordered from their Lazada mobile application, up from seven in 10 last year, which showed the meteoric rise of smartphone adoption among Southeast Asia’s fast-growing middle-class consumers.
“Year after year, we have advanced to the forefront of the country’s e-commerce industry through the years, driven by our commitment to improve shoppers’ experience and to enable sellers to reach bigger markets,” Lazada Philippines chief executive officer Ray Alimurung said.
“We are delighted by the unwavering support of Filipinos in making 2018 another great year for Lazada. Going into 2019, we will continue building and strengthening our platform to provide more value to our sellers and shoppers alike.”
