Pakistani e-commerce giant, Daraz, has won big at the Retail Asia Awards 2021, bagging awards in ‘E-Mall of the Year’ and ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ categories. The Retail Asia Awards 2021 honors the innovations and accomplishments of enterprises in the past 24 months.
Daraz received the ‘E-mall of the Year’ award for its focus on developing a premium and secure channel, DarazMall, for high-quality products and services. Since its inception in 2019, DarazMall has been a major catalyst for e-commerce growth in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal.
During the peak of the pandemic in 2020, DarazMall provided customers with a diverse selection of options by hosting over 2,500 brands and over 1 million various products from manufacturers and authorized distributors. Furthermore, the Flagship Store concept of the channel allows dealers to develop close relationships with consumers while also ensuring product availability.
“DarazMall is our dedicated channel within our marketplace business that provides access to guaranteed, authentic, and licensed goods directly fulfilled by brands and authorized distributors,” shared Bjarke Mikkelsen, CEO Daraz Group. “In 2020, we accelerated the growth of brands and we now have more than 3,000 brands on our platform with more than 1 million products that we are selling to the consumers.”
According to Retail Asia Magazine, Daraz, during the strict COVID-19 lockdown, used its own logistics service, Daraz Express (DEX), to deliver customers’ urgent orders in the safest possible way. DEX delivered about 700,000 orders containing health & hygiene supplies, groceries, apparel, gadgets, and more from March through May.
The Retail Asia Magazine lists top 3 achievements of Daraz to have been recognized for the award. These include: 1) Growing to a multi-hundred-million-dollar business during a challenging year; 2) Connecting more than 2,500 brands directly to South Asian consumers in one virtual mall; and 3) Supporting the development of the region’s e-commerce industry through a focus on trust and service.
The ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ award, on the other hand, is in recognition of Daraz’s Seller Stimulus Program. Through the program, over 150,000 Daraz-dependent vendors as well as traditional offline (brick-and-mortar) businesses, that would otherwise have been gravely affected by the economic consequences from COVID-19, received critical pandemic-related relief.
The company, under the stimulus initiative, waived seller commission costs, making it easier for existing sellers to operate amid the crisis. Daraz also invited traditional vendors on board so that they could begin selling online and keep their business running. Daraz put the program in place by collaborating with the government on standard operating procedures and logistics.
“We are deeply honored to be awarded the ‘E-mall of the Year’ and the ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ awards. Both of these awards are a testament to our commitment to South Asia and we really look forward to continuing our growth alongside their communities,” added Bjarke Mikkelsen, CEO Daraz Group.
“For our customers, we enable the access to the greatest variety of products through an interactive and personalized journey. Whereas for our sellers, it means that we’re breaking down the barriers of entry to reach audiences beyond their local markets and educate them on the power of commerce and ease of doing business online,” he highlighted.
Daraz, being the largest e-commerce platform in South Asia, has consistently demonstrated competence not only in increasing service quality for consumers, but also in corporate social responsibility for the platform’s merchants. The recognition that the company received at the Retail Asia Awards 2021 is a testament to that commitment.
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