Lazada opens logistics hub as online shopping grows

LAZADA CEBU/OCT 15,2015: Lazada Cebu executive tour Cebu media on its warehouse in Maguikay Mandaue City. Lazada is an online shopping. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

THE Philippine unit of Southeast Asian e-commerce firm Lazada has set up a logistics hub in Cebu to cope with the growth of online shopping.

Inanc Balci, co-founder and chief executive officer of Lazada Philippines, said the Cebu hub will serve customers in the Visayas.

It is Lazada’s second logistics center, after the facility in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila. A third hub will be opened in Davao next year to serve clients in Mindanao.

“The biggest challenge (of online shopping business) is in logistics. The Philippines has a very complex geography with more than 7,000 islands. There are a lot of hard-to-reach islands and it’s expensive to deliver in the Philippines,” he said during the official blessing and inauguration yesterday of the facility located in Mandaue City.

Balci said having a logistics hub in Cebu will expedite the delivery of their services. Lazada has 20 motorcycles and trucks for its delivery services.

Initially, Lazada has partnered with cargo forwarder LBC. Other third-party logistics companies are also expected to partner with Lazada.

The company’s in-house shipping service, Lazada Express, will also be operating from the new hub.

“We are very optimistic about the success of the hub since e-shopping has increased drastically,” said Balci.

Online shopping currently contributes one percent to total sales in the country, but Balci said this is expected to increase as more consumers turn to online e-commerce sites for convenience and easier access.

He also noted that more and more merchants are setting up online shops as either primary or secondary avenues for revenue.

Nearly 10,000 local merchants are using the Lazada platform, he said. Of these, only a few are based in Cebu.

Lazada boasts of being the only e-commerce company that accepts cash on delivery. It also recently launched an online payment platform similar to PayPal called Hellopay.