Daraz records SL’s first Rs.200mn online sale with Black Friday

In what is a first for e-commerce, Daraz scored Sri Lanka’s first Rs.200 million sale in revenue, securing 10 times more orders compared to a normal day, powered by three times more traffic on the e-commerce portal.

High stakes behind Black Friday

What makes Black Friday big? While this might sound like an obvious question, it is a no less information alone to consider when reviewing the year’s single biggest sale. Daraz’s annual sale is best seen as a tent pitched to attract not just millions of digitally-savvy prospects, but a consortium of top brands and hundreds of sellers across the Island.

Introduced by Daraz in 2016, the sale has now become an islandwide phenomenon with most retailers trying to replicate the western shopping craze in Sri Lanka. Within the first hour of the sale, Daraz surpassed its revenue grossed on a regular day.

Daraz Country Manager Bart Van Dijk commented, “We were yet again thrilled by the overwhelming response of the Daraz Black Friday Sale this year and are very proud to have had the biggest ever online sale in Sri Lanka to date. This response is only inspiring us to make it even bigger and better next year by continuing to improve on every aspect of our business and ensuring to deliver more deals and many other record breaking events to come.

Never before seen digital rush-hour

Millions of users flocked to the online marketplace during Black Friday - the event clocked in two million sessions on the web and app during the week-long sale. 61 percent of this traffic was via mobile, out of which 51 percent came in from the Daraz mobile app, attesting to the increasingly mobile-first nature of Sri Lankan e-commerce.

Over 47 percent of transactions were made using the Daraz app, vindicating the continuous efforts the company has made in improving their 
app experience.

86 percent of revenue came through prepayment methods, with customers utilising Daraz’s partnership with banks to provide instalment options at zero or minimal costs on big transactions. Customers were able to enjoy additional discounts through Standard Chartered Bank and Seylan Bank credit cards. Higher pre-payment penetration indicates a key inflection point in the e-commerce scene in Sri Lanka, with customers showing increased trust in online payments.

A bonanza of top brands and breathtaking deals

The year 2017 has proven to be a breakthrough year for FMCGs on Daraz. One needs to look no further than the numbers turned up by brands in the FMCG space this Black Friday, with 47 percent of the volume being generated by customers ordering beauty, grocery and household products. Industry leaders like Unilever, Fonterra and Stassen sold the highest number of items during the sale, with Lifebuoy and Anchor prominent amongst top brands generating millions in sales.
iPhone X was exclusively launched on Daraz with the lowest price in Sri Lanka - with a special discount for Standard Chartered and Seylan Bank 
credit cardholders.

Massive investments in customer experience

In the run up to Black Friday, Daraz lined up a major logistics investment to streamline deliveries across the island, devoting a large slice towards new fulfilment center in Gregory’s Road in Colombo 07 with 6,000 square-feet of warehousing space.

Daraz continues to work with all third party logistic companies and has also expanded its own operations capacity in order to fulfil orders faster. The investments have paid off with 95 percent of orders shipped already, with the first few orders being delivered within four hours.

Great deals to continue

What began in 2016 as a daring gambit has now become a bonafide retail trend – in 2017, Black Friday marks a new epoch in Sri Lankan retail with online retail standing head-to-head with brick-and-mortar across all verticals. To celebrate the 200 million rupee milestone, Daraz has announced that it will be providing special deals throughout the Christmas season to meet the continued demand from its customers.