Daraz awarded Online Brand of the Year – Silver at SLIM Brand Excellence

Daraz, with a value proposition of ‘Any product you need, under one digital roof’, was awarded Silver under the Online Brand of the Year category, at the SLIM Brand Excellence awards held recently. There was no Gold award granted for the category this year. With more than three million orders delivered as of 2020, it comes as no surprise that Daraz is the go to for many online shoppers across the island.

Ranked as the #1 app on PlayStore and Apple store in the shopping category, Daraz is also in the Top Three e-commerce brands in Sri Lanka according to LMD Brands Annual 2020, and the third most popular website in the country according to Sri Lanka Digital Outlook 2020. The largest online marketplace in the country was also named the Most Visible Brand on Social Media in Sri Lanka by Asia Pacific Institute of Digital Marketing, and placed among the top 20 most popular apps in Sri Lanka according to Sri Lanka Digital Outlook 2020.

Daraz entered the Sri Lankan market when online purchases were primarily limited to electronics. However, Daraz continued to build a fully functional market place, creating a platform where buyers and sellers from across the country are connected on Daraz, and offering products from a large variety of categories. Having identified this as the key space to occupy in the market and accounting for the fact that online purchases only accounted for 1% of the Rs. 300bn retail market, Daraz proceeded to dominate the online market.  

Speaking of the recognition at SLIM Brand Excellence, Daraz Head of Marketing Heshan Perera stated, “Daraz has always aimed to ensure ease, accessibility and overall customer satisfaction and convenience. By closely studying global market trends across categories, observing consumer behavior, trialing new categories and active engagement with both our merchant and customers, we are confident that we’ll motivate more Sri Lankans to adopt a digital commerce lifestyle. Being awarded the Silver Award as the Online Brand of the Year is an honor and one that we will continue to better in the future.”

One of the key differentiators of Daraz is that it provides the opportunity for any merchant to sell products via their platform, resulting in the availability of over 3 million products for their consumers to choose from. Daraz caters to the masses through their plethora of payment options, some of the lowest prices and the ease of access online and offline through Daraz stores.

The digital infrastructure of commerce in Sri Lanka faced significant hurdles centered around consumer distrust of online spending. By understanding these concerns Daraz aimed at finding solutions so as to motivate consumers to move to online purchasing. By ensuring the fast fulfillment of orders through their own logistics company with 23 centers around Sri Lanka and partnering with the Sri Lanka Post Office so customers can return products with ease. 

In addition, Daraz aims to create a sustainable marketplace, ensure security to all parties engaged in the transaction and abide by viable business practices that will grow the economy. Daraz has taken steps to facilitate this by reducing the carbon impact and environmental damage of traditional business by moving engagement to an online platform, providing a secure online marketplace, curating a range of options for the consumers benefit; through which vendors of different sizes can partake in an inclusive economic environment and enabling businesses to capitalise on the opportunity of broadening their customer base through a digital platform.

Daraz online shopping, has a clear and objectivised brand recall plan. For consumers, it is strategic and beneficial as a true marketplace with endless possibilities and options, and eliminating border limitations. To businesses it is a digital partner who is invested in developing their own business through innovative revenue channels, and lastly to the State, a catalyst in the propulsion of economic digitisation.