Month: January 2021

Meet Katrina Cacal,
the Go-Getter Gen Z Entrepreneur

Post author By Dorothy So
Post date January 18, 2021
No Comments on Meet Katrina Cacal,
the Go-Getter Gen Z Entrepreneur

By Mina Cunanan
Jan. 18, 2021

Katrina Cacal started her entrepreneurial journey when she was 14, selling lip tints and makeup on social media, mostly to her friends and family members. She has since grown her business, expanded her product offerings, opened a brick-and-mortar store in Metro Manila in the Philippines and launched on one of Southeast Asia’s biggest eCommerce platforms.

“What really prompted me to start my business was my experience buying these products for myself. It was inconvenient and the shipping fees were expensive, and so I thought of reselling these products as a means to make it easier and cheaper for other people to buy these goods,” Cacal said.

At such a young age and with no experience in doing business, Cacal struggled at first to get her enterprise off the ground. “At the start I was quite embarrassed to message people I knew, to ask if they wanted to buy lip tints from me. I thought to myself, ‘Would this work out? Should I continue to do my reselling?’ I had a lot of doubts about it at the beginning,” she said.

Her persistence paid off. Word spread, orders multiplied and her customer base grew. To meet her customers’ needs, she branched out into selling clothes, mobile phones and accessories. In high school, she became the go-to person for those looking to buy trinkets and knickknacks. Customers would send her messages online and within a few days, they’d get what they ordered.

With demand growing, Cacal opened a brick-and-mortar store and hired an assistant to help with day-to-day operations. Still, she has to balance schoolwork with running her burgeoning business, juggling supplier meetings with homework and school deadlines. Her day usually starts at 8 a.m., which is when she deals with online orders before starting her day at school. There are days when the balancing act is tough, Cacal admitted, but she’s managed to cope, she said.

That can-do entrepreneurial spirit pushed Cacal to join the LazStart programme initiated in the Philippines last July. Though she had been in business for a few years, she wanted to learn more about growing her venture, especially on a big platform like Lazada.

“I heard about the LazStart programme through Lazada’s partnership with Treston International College, where I’m currently taking up an accountancy course. Since I already had an online business, I thought it would be a great opportunity to gain more knowledge to use for my store,” Cacal said.

The LazStart programme was established to introduce young entrepreneurs in high schools and universities to the intricacies and possibilities of eCommerce. “The programme combines basic concepts and principles of entrepreneurship, as well as modules on upskilling to adapt to digital platforms and help amp up knowledge to build a successful business online,” said Jacqueline Fuentes, chief customer officer of Lazada Philippines.

Cacal explains her enthusiasm for LazStart: “My experience with LazStart was great! It not only gave me an opportunity to meet like-minded people, but I really learned about how to be a better businesswoman and stand out among my competitors.

“LazStart helped me fully understand the online world and how eCommerce works. Before, I wasn’t really familiar with it. I just did my business the way I knew how – through messaging buyers and coordinating payments and logistics manually. The experience I have gained from the programme has really helped me to become a more efficient online seller, and provide better service for my customers.”

After completing the programme, Cacal decided to open her store, Jomarkat General Merchandise, on Lazada.

“I chose to onboard on Lazada because of the convenience it provides me as a seller,” she said, describing how the platform provided her with the operational and logistics support to launch and manage her eCommerce business. “Fulfilling orders has definitely become much easier and faster with Lazada. It takes worries off of booking couriers and making sure the right packages arrive to the right customers,” she said. The tools on the platform have also allowed her to build more trust and better relationships with her customers, she added.

Fuentes of Lazada Philippines said: “We’re happy to see how our programme has helped budding young entrepreneurs such as Katrina jumpstart their businesses online. Our goal with the LazStart programme is to continue to help educate the younger generation on the world of eCommerce, arming them with the skills and knowledge to be successful entrepreneurs in the digital space.”

Starting a business is difficult at any age, but Cacal believes that hard work really is the key to building a successful venture.

“My advice to others like me looking to start is to just do it now,” Cacal said. “There will never be a perfect time to begin, so you just have to trust the process and put in the work to make your business a success.”

Mina Cunanan is an associate in Lazada Philippines’ public relations team handling corporate affairs.

Inside Lazada Logistics

From the Front Lines:
Heroes Who Deliver

Post author By Dorothy So
Post date January 18, 2021
No Comments on From the Front Lines:
Heroes Who Deliver

By Jeremy Ng Kok Shern
Jan. 18, 2021

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, many have had to hunker down at home, and those who handle logistics and delivery services have become so much more than their job descriptions. They are the new lifelines to communities across the globe as they ensure that daily essentials reach housebound consumers in a safe and timely manner.

Yesota Kreshna Pillai, 31, is a Lazada driver. She is one of these essential workers who has been on the front lines since Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO) came into force last March. “When the pandemic first hit the country, I was extremely anxious, but I knew that it was my duty and my responsibility to those who rely on us for their daily essentials,” she recalled.

Yesota has been with Lazada for over a year and is the only woman among the delivery drivers at her designated fulfilment hub. Defying the odds, she has thrived in this labour-intensive line of work that often requires her to haul heavy packages and work a grueling schedule. She often has to travel long distances and cope with changeable and sometimes difficult weather and traffic conditions.

Even before the outbreak of the pandemic and the movement curbs, a typical day started for her at 7 a.m. and involved logging many kilometres to deliver an average of 120 packages a day. When the pandemic struck, demand for home deliveries skyrocketed and delivery workloads with added time pressures increased.

“I had to go through two roadblocks every day to reach the customers in my area, temperature checks at each neighborhood building and also location check-ins. In addition, the number of packages that I had to handle increased more than two-fold during the pandemic,” Yesota said.

Rajmahendran A/L Krishuan, her husband of nearly three years, said: “I’m very worried about her because she has to drive all day long and interact with multiple people in order to deliver the packages to customers.” He frets about the health risks frontliners like his wife face in serving the community. Such risks also take a psychological toll on workers and their loved ones, making each work day even more challenging.

“I know that my husband is always worried for me,” Yesota said. “We were open with each other and we talked about the safety precautions and SOPs that were set in order to protect those of us on duty, and that gave him comfort.”

Making health and safety its top priority, Lazada rolled out zero-contact deliveries when the pandemic hit and also implemented other protocols and standard operating procedures to safeguard the well-being of its customers and its frontline staff. Aside from being equipped with protective gear, all of Lazada’s warehouse logistics personnel and delivery teams undergo daily temperature checks and adhere to stringent sanitization processes.

Lazada logistics frontline workers at a facility in Malaysia.

With Yesota so busy, Rajmahendran says he rarely gets to see his wife. “We don’t get to have dinner at night or spend time together during the weekends like we used to. But I understand because I know a lot of people depend on her and the essential service that she provides for the community,” he said. “I’m worried for her safety, but I am also very proud of my wife and I am also thankful to Lazada for putting in place strict measures to protect their frontliners.”

Despite their jobs’ challenges, frontliners like Yesota have remained steadfast in their dedication to serving the community, especially during the toughest of times. For these unsung heroes who travel far and wide, having their efforts recognised and appreciated goes a long way.

“There were instances where I was gifted with masks and bottled mineral water by customers,” Yesota said. “When I see the smiles on customers’ faces after receiving the packages I delivered to them, for me, it makes my job worth it.”

Jeremy Ng is an associate in Lazada Malaysia’s public relations team.

Business & Commerce

ECommerce Powers Businesses in Indonesia’s Fast-Growing Digital Economy

Post author By Dorothy So
Post date January 18, 2021
No Comments on ECommerce Powers Businesses in Indonesia’s Fast-Growing Digital Economy

By LazBeat Staff
Jan. 18, 2021

Over the next five years, eCommerce will be a vital stimulant in pushing Indonesia’s digital economy to reach an estimated USD124 billion, and continuing comprehensive digital support, especially for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will be essential to maintaining rapid growth, according to a recent Lazada study.

These and other findings were shared last month as part of a two-month study, “Accelerating Indonesia’s Digital Economy through eCommerce.” The advisory firm YCP Solidiance was commissioned to conduct the study with the support of the Indonesian eCommerce Association (iDEA).

“Lazada’s vision is to accelerate economic progress in Southeast Asia through commerce and technology,” said Lazada Indonesia’s chief marketing officer, Monika Rudijono. “Through this study, we want to better understand the journey and the building blocks of companies and MSMEs towards digital transformation as well as how we as an eCommerce platform can support these needs.”

While Indonesia’s digital economy is already on a rapid upward trajectory because of the nation’s surging internet penetration rate and the rapid adoption of smartphones, the study found that there are still challenges that prevent smaller players, such as MSMEs, from fully benefiting from and contributing to this burgeoning market. All the large corporations have shifted from analogue to digitised systems, with 90% applying technology as a lever to improve core business processes, but only 13% of MSMEs have begun integrating technology into their operations.

All large corporations in Indonesia have converted from analogue to digitised systems, with 90% reaching the digitalised stage by applying technology as a lever to improve core business operations. But only slight more than half have digitally transformed.

The need to rectify this digitalisation shortfall is especially pressing because MSMEs are the backbone of Indonesia’s economy, accounting for more than 98% of its companies. In 2019, these small but powerful businesses contributed more than US$1,055 billion – or 58% – of Indonesia’s GDP and provided jobs for 85% of its working population.

While more than 80% of the survey’s MSME respondents acknowledge that embracing online technology is important, many businesses face roadblocks on the path to digitalising, such as the lack of access to digital infrastructure, financing and technology know-how. All these are reinforced by a reluctance to change.

This is why eCommerce platforms are so critical in helping Indonesian MSMEs to digitise and digitalise. Such platforms provide access to a variety of operational support and resources. These platforms offer help in financing, logistics, innovation, marketing and market access, thus enabling MSMEs to tackle everyday issues that stymie their inclusion and advancement in the country’s digital economy. The study found that 92% of Indonesia’s digitalised MSMEs agree that eCommerce helped ease their logistics operations while 94% said sales improved as a result of digital commerce promotions. All those surveyed also agreed that their presence on eCommerce platforms enabled them to reach a national audience.

Indonesian eCommerce Association Chairman Bima Laga said that the use of eCommerce has grown so much in the last few years and that the pandemic accelerated online activities and businesses’ shift to digital operations. Laga added: “With the right policy and execution, eCommerce holds a significant role in driving MSMEs to grow together with eCommerce. For us, eCommerce and MSMEs are one entity if we talk about digital transformation.”

Aside from providing a stable digital infrastructure, eCommerce platforms can offer key building blocks to spur on MSMEs that have begun digitising. They can also help large corporations looking to fully integrate digital technologies into their core competencies and business strategies.

For example, to help companies attain such digital growth and all-round transformation, Lazada not only provides onboarding orientation for new merchants but also advanced training for those wanting to leverage the platform’s many features. Sellers can use the platform to access peer learning, mentorship and networking events. The platform also automates customer and seller services, guide sellers on data utilisation and offline-to-online conversion, and other key building blocks, all in one centralised location.

Rudijono said: “Through Lazada Indonesia’s technology and eCommerce ecosystem, we are ready to provide support for businesses, both large companies and MSMEs, so that they can develop their business in a sustainable manner and reach the next stage of digital transformation. We hope that through the synergy in accelerating this digital transformation, Indonesia’s digital economy system will continue to develop rapidly and contribute to supporting the Indonesian economy.”