Staff Reporter
Lahore
In 2019, Pakistan’s ecommerce industry remained resilient through a difficult year. Daraz, the leading ecommerce platform in the country, witnessed exceptional growth as the number of users visiting the platform increased by 100%. The number of customers shopping on Daraz increased by 140% and the number of orders placed in the year rose by 200% despite inflationary pressures and currency fluctuations. Through the year, the platform pushed the boundaries of innovation to find solutions and drive growth.
Two factors highly-critical for the growth of the ecommerce landscape in Pakistan are financial inclusion and the country’s literacy rate, according to KCCI’s 2019 ecommerce report. With the launch of the Daraz Wallet in March, Daraz has not only contributed to financial inclusion but encouraged a shift towards digital payments.
More than 1 million wallets were activated over the year and digital payments contributed to 40% of the overall share of orders. With the launch of Daraz University, the platform has focused on educating a growing seller base on ecommerce operations to ensure the growth of their online ventures. Extensive free-of-cost tutorials available to new and existing sellers focus on product pricing, packaging and customer service and have helped empower 30,000 sellers this year.
In the out-going year, Daraz also empowered sellers to reach a larger, global customer base with the launch of DExports.
