By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
Kapruka.com, Sri Lanka’s largest e-commerce organization came under fresh spotlight once again for its outstanding performance as it fetched the Gold at the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) Brand Excellence Awards 2016.

Winning the prestigious Gold award under the ‘Online Brand of the year “category, Kapruka.com continues to remain the market leader in the e-commerce space, a status it has maintained since its inception. The Online Brand of the year category was first introduced to SLIM Brand Excellence Awards in the year 2015. 
The event which is held at a national level, rewards the outstanding efforts of marketers and aims to not only encourage best practices in branding, but also to raise local brands to global standards, thus enhancing the image of marketing in Sri Lanka.

Whilst the event translates as industry recognition of the motivation, dedication and hard work that great marketers have demonstrated in making brand champions, after a comprehensive evaluation process the qualities Kapruka.com allowed it to stand out from the pool of diverse online brands.  
Founded in 2003, Kapruka has grown from strength to strength and now accommodates over 10,000 products under 30 categories, thus setting the bar for e-commerce footprint in Sri Lanka. 
According to its award winning Founder and Chairman Dulith Herath, the entity’s primary goal is to provide a world class service to Sri Lankan’s who shop online. Making it stand out from the rest is keeping the core business simple and having strong confidence on the potential of Sri Lanka’s online market space.

Highlighting reasons for Kapruka bagging the award, Herath pointed out it is largely due to the business having a different approach to marketing.
“About 99.9% of our marketing budget is for digital. That’s our primary channel and this approach was interesting for the judges. That is, to have reached the brand presence and perception we enjoy by almost entirely executing our marketing exercises online.

“This was an added advantage for the panel as it was a different approach from what a traditional marketing budget would offer,” he said.
Furthermore, although the online business space is cluttered, only handfuls are profitable. A bleeding industry as Herath calls it. Despite it being challenging to not only continue to operate but to maintain a steady market share, Kapruka.com continues to stay ahead of the game. 
Another factor for the success of Kapruka is its art of operating in the highly competitive industry. While the majority of ecommerce businesses operate on third party inventory, Kapruka handles all processes from the very step of importing by itself. 

“The majority of the ecommerce businesses are merely a platform, but at Kapruka its traditional ecommerce. That’s why we are profitable and that’s how we sustain,” stated Herath. Alongside the entity’s way of doing business, the majority shareholder of the success of Kapruka is its workforce. 
At Kapruka, each and every employee is given prominence and importance regardless of the designation he holds. Such efforts have resulted in Kapruka having a dedicated team, who are determined to serve and adhere to the company’s core values. Today it has a workforce of over 200 skilled employees. 
To stay ahead of the game, Kapruka has established strong ties with 300 renowned brand names that offer high quality Lankan products. 
The extensive range of gift ideas combined with its impeccable professional standards has created a satisfied and loyal customer base. 
Dreaming big, Herath shared that Kapruka plans to quadruple its portfolio. Added on to the existing lines will be a number of verticals. One such is the Kapruka Closet. Herath added that with an investment of Rs. 200 million, the expansion would reach completion by mid 2017.

In a nutshell, it is innovation inspired by the company’s spirit of creativity and passion that has resulted in its unprecedented success. 
Kapruka remains ambitious and committed towards finding original ways of connecting Sri Lankan online shoppers to products across the world.