Lazada sees sales doubling with 11/11 shopping festival

MANILA, Philippines — Southeast Asia’s biggest e-commerce portal expects to double the sales generated in the Philippines from its biggest one-day sale event 11/11 compared to last year. 

“We expect to do twice of 11/11 last year this year and 15 times a normal day,” Juan Pavez Spencer, Lazada Philippines chief executive officer for logistics or operations told reporters yesterday when asked about the sales target for the 11/11 shopping festival.

As of 9 a.m. yesterday, he said 60 percent of the target has been achieved.

Lazada’s 11/11 Shopping Festival held every year, has become Southeast Asia’s most anticipated and biggest one-day sale.

During Lazada’s 11/11 Shopping Festival, online shoppers in the Philippines had a chance to enjoy more than 50 million deals including discounts of as much as 99 percent, as well as one-peso deals and vouchers.

Some 80 million plus items were being made available by 30,000 listed sellers in the Philippines during the one-day sale.

Singles’ Day or the 11/11 online shopping event started in China as Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma wanted to boost sales.

Spencer said holding the shopping festival in the middle of November in the Philippines is seen as a good opportunity for retailers and sellers with many Filipinos already making purchases in preparation for Christmas.

Most of the items purchased on the platform are electronics as well as health and beauty products like lipsticks.

With high volume of orders expected, Spencer said Lazada is prepared as it has warehouses and logistics partners in place.

“As millions of orders come in during the gift-giving season, Lazada takes its operations into high gear, from picking up products from sellers or warehousing and packing items offered on its online marketplace to delivering orders to shoppers on the same day or the next day,” he said.