How Daraz is Leading the Way with Customer Focus Innovation
Since the acquisition of Daraz by the Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, Daraz has seen an immense hike in growth from when it first started out its venture in 2012. With the aid of advanced technology systems and artificial intelligence, Daraz aims to change the digital marketing industry to yield ultimate customer satisfaction.
HootSuite’s Digital Trends Report for 2020, Daraz was recognized as one of the most websites and has been been on ranked as the number 1 app on Google Play Store due to Daraz’s focus on remaining innovative where it demands and stay customer-focused. Daraz’s top priority is to ensure that all its logistics, sellers, facility centers are work towards providing customers with a smooth and convenient online shopping experience.
With its successful campaigns and sales. Daraz has hit two big milestones in the past year: Being the first site to sell the new Prince Pearl DFSK online, and the second was growing its product assortment to 10 million items in more than 100 categories.
In addition to categories such as electronics, apparel, mobiles & tablets, and FMCGs, Daraz has also launched DFresh, where customers can buy fresh fruits and vegetables online at discounted prices.
Apart from categories like electronics, fashion, mobiles & tablets, and FMCGs, Daraz also introduced fresh fruits and vegetables – DFresh. Currently, this service is available in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad and provides Express Delivery where the products get delivered the very next day. This not only allows unparalleled convenience for consumers, but also offers items that are not readily available in local markets such as avocados, colored peppers, and berries.
With Daraz’s official channel, DarazMall, which features flagship stores by a selection of branded authorized sellers, has recently expanded its fashion collection by adding in 20 Turkish apparel brands. Now consumers can browse foreign trends in fashion from the comfort of their homes.
When it comes to these assorted product categories– some items have, such as winter coats, heaters, and air conditioners, have seasonal impacts on demand. There is a moderate overall trend with these goods, but the number of orders Daraz receives year has risen by at least 2x. Even though in 2019, when currency fluctuations had made the economic environment less pleasing for e-commerce businesses. However, Daraz maintained its stability with such by meeting consumer demands and, there has been an exponential increase in the probability of any consumer coming into the app and discovering what they are looking for. Daraz has an ever-growing customer base that stretches from the metropolitan city of Karachi’s to Punjab’s rural areas, all the way north to Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With the advanced AI-powered customization and technology, Daraz’s customers are able to traverse through the various assortments and the vast range of products available effortlessly and find items that match their preferences.
Knowing the obstacles that prevent offline shoppers from buying products online, Daraz has also concentrated on encouraging consumers to make buying decisions by keeping them informed and also educating the sellers as well. Last year, two new innovative features were introduced– Photo Reviews and Instant Messages were introduced to help the buyers assess the quality of a product and to further examine its price, narrowing their options down to a product that suits their expectations.
Daraz Online Shopping is not just your virtual mall and online marketplace, but a community.
Our primary stakeholders, Our Marketplace Seller, who contribute to 90% of Daraz’s assortments. Our platform’s seller community is spread across 595 cities and towns, and every month 3,000 new and established vendors are offered free-of-cost education regarding packaging, customer dealings and experience through Daraz University.
Out of our 20,000 marketplace seller family, Nida, a housewife who lives in Karachi is one of 20,000 active marketplace sellers who set up her online jewelry store on Daraz.
“I wanted to build a strong sense of self,” said Nida, as she paves her way to secure her income and build stability.
Besides being a marketplace, Daraz is also a virtual mall. Introduced in 2018, DarazMall is a premium retail platform, that has over 450 leading local and foreign brands that have established their official stores on the website. Those include L’Oreal, Unilever, Honda, Prince DFSK, Nabila Zero Makeup and Trendyol. DarazMall offers consumers a longer return period, genuine goods and quick delivery.
Building an intuitive customer journey
With exposure to innovative technologies, Daraz has been able to establish an insightful consumer path. The company has built a deep awareness of consumer touchpoints not only to create a user interface that is personalized and easy to use but also to extend the physical presence and provide a comprehensive customer experience.
The site has expanded emphasis on platforms–such as DMart, Dfamily, DStudent, and DarazMall–as opposed to categories. In other words, Daraz is guided by what the user wants and has built a streamlined interface to lead them through the app and figure out just what they’re looking for.
As we advance through the years, Gamification has been an important aspect of an app-driving user interface. In 2020, by relying further on this element, Daraz aims to appeal to a consumer base that is not solely motivated by functionality but still values creativity.
Recognizing the need for “shop online pick-up in shops,” Daraz has also opened 105 collection points in 19 cities and, as a result, expanded its physical footprint. One of the main goals of the company in 2020 is to further close the distance between online and offline and size collection points.
DEX: “The most important job in the company”
Sajid Ali, a single father living in Karachi wakes up every morning at 6am to drop his two children off at school and heads off to work – a routine he’s followed since his wife passed away a few years ago.
He states, “I have a very important job. I have to ensure that people receive their packages. You could argue this is the most important job in the company.”
Daraz Express (DEX), Pakistan’s first digital logistics firm exclusively built for e-commerce operations. When Sajid started working in Daraz, he was one of 20 distribution officers. Today, the organization hires 1,500 DEX Heros, who donate their orange jackets every morning and head out to distribute parcels around the world.
DEX is a core component of the logistics network of the leading electronic marketplace built to ensure fast fulfillment and improved customer service. DEX has supplied the network, holding 60 percent of all Daraz orders, not only reduced distribution lead times by 2-3 days but has also been able to supply unique goods, mostly FMCGs, specifically in some areas of the world. Karachi customers are now offered the option for shipping their goods on the same day as the order, although customers can choose to get their goods on their doorstep within 24 hours in 19 other cities like Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Sukkur and Quetta.
Paving the way towards financial inclusivity
By building a robust payments infrastructure and through collaborations and tactical partnerships with leading banks and open-loop wallets, Daraz has been able to introduce digital payment methods as a secure and reliable option to a cash-reliant customer base.
A significant milestone for the company has been the introduction of Daraz Wallet – the smartest way to pay on the app – a closed-loop wallet that allows customers to transact faster and collect refunds instantly. Over the past year, Daraz has witnessed an encouraging shift towards digital payments methods. More than 20% of the orders the company receives are paid for digitally. More than 50% of those transactions are done through Daraz Wallet.
Being PCI DSS compliant, Daraz has been able to ensure that customers remain safeguarded from all fraud. The company also implements a strict purchase protection policy to assure customers of such protection.
Daraz has assured, through its innovative practices, that consumer service remains a primary mission.
Innovative service techniques–whether in the area of infrastructure, user management processes–are all oriented towards a single goal: to improve customer service. As a consequence, Hootsuite’s Digital 2020 study–which looked at developments in e-commerce, internet and social media use–placed Daraz on the top 10 most-visited websites in the world.
Daraz was also awarded the Brand of the Year award by the Brands Foundation. Daraz is the country’s largest online marketplace, transforming the e-commerce environment and stimulating the growth of the industry and at the same time inspiring entrepreneurs and consumers.