Daraz hosts first Seller Summit in Sri Lanka

• Over 400 online sellers introduced to upgraded system
• Seller empowerment key focus in way forward

Sri Lanka’s fast growing e-commerce platform, Daraz hosted over 400 sellers at its Seller Summit, held recently at the Hilton Colombo.  The summit offered all sellers registered with Daraz an opportunity to learn and discover smarter ways to be successful with Daraz by initiating them into the new upgraded systems. 

From its inception in 2016, Daraz has grown immensely through its innovative technology and continuous upgrading of systems and processes. The recent acquisition of the company by Alibaba, the global e-commerce giant, stands testimony to what Daraz has achieved and its potential. 

Daraz Co-CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen stated that as a group, Daraz is focused on bettering their services and setting benchmarks in the industry. For instance, the delivery time, which was over 10 days, is at present less than four days, with orders increasing tenfold over a year. The e-commerce market values at approximately $ 60 million at present. However, Mikkelsen envisions it would evolve into a half-a-billion-dollar market in four years with the strategy put in place by Daraz. 

Introducing the upgraded seller back-end system, Mikkelsen referred to the three-step-approach used by Daraz to develop seller engagement and serve the customers better. 

Strategy

The initial step is a revamped strategy where Daraz will give the tools which will enable the sellers to sell their own products, create their own campaigns, and directly interact with their customers among many other things.

Tools

The tools which are needed for this are provided entirely by Daraz. The control and quality of service will be maintained by the Company through a dynamic performance management system. 

Business process

The final and most important step is building the business process and ensuring that it is seamless and foolproof. This new system will go live on 13 September and promises to be a focal point in the e-commerce industry as it will change the whole landscape of online retail selling and shopping. 

Looking back at what Daraz has achieved in the past years and the current opportunities, Daraz Sri Lanka Country Manager Bart Van Dijk emphasised on the many activities that the company has done with and for the sellers. Optimising sales through innovative campaigns such as Mobile Week and Black Friday, building a wide network online and offline, improving logistics and digitally enabling partners through educating them are some of the key activities which have enhanced seller engagement on the platform. The ‘Seller Scorecard’, which rates sellers from Bronze to Platinum, also acts as a boost, especially allowing small-scale sellers to grow to their full capacity through Daraz. 

The keynote speech for the evening was delivered by Sri Lanka Retail Association Chairman Hussain Siddique 

“Retail contributes to over 30% of the national GDP, and the objective of the Association is to make Sri Lanka a retail destination,” stated Siddique. He also mentioned that the online retail market is growing at 15% globally. Agility and open-mindedness are key attributes that should be enhanced, and online retail is the platform in which this is truly tested. 

Moreover, the Seller Summit gave an opportunity to the partners to learn further about the other developments that Daraz has introduced in the recent past. The Daraz Hubs are equally beneficial to sellers and customers as they serve as convenient drop-off and pick-up points, respectively. They also operate as after-sales service points, seller registration locations, training centres for sellers as well as a commodity which builds credibility and trust among the customers who are especially new to online shopping. 

Daraz Express (DEX) is another development in the Daraz experience. The logistic solutions arm comes with its own fleet network which will optimise the first and last mile delivery. DEX will also serve as the managing and monitoring point of 3PL delivery, in order to enhance delivery and return time. Daraz Express will play a key role in seller fulfilment in terms of reaching destinations out of Colombo, efficient transport to and from the sortation hub, line haul and shuttle transport through which all the hubs will be connected, and thereby reduce delivery time, forward delivery and reverse fulfilment.

The sellers were also taken through the new Daraz Seller Centre and the newly introduced Daraz University, which operate as the main dashboard where sellers could enhance their sales through the various options available. The automated system allows the sale to go live immediately while the performance dashboard that is visible to customers will become a deciding factor in seller performance. Sellers are also able to build their own following through the new system. Whilst enabling the sellers with many options, the system also lays more responsibility on the sellers in the areas of customer service and offering better quality products. 

The Seller Summit concluded with a sneak peek at the next big sale on Daraz, the 11.11., or ‘Singles’ Day’. Daraz will be bringing this biggest international online sale for the first time to Sri Lanka.