It’s been a while since we’ve had a look at marketplace strategy on the blog – over the last six weeks or so, we’ve been busy with Linn Academy, the eCommerce Awards and various other exciting projects. While it’s been great to mix things up, and we’ll continue to do so, today we’re getting back to basics, to help you maximise your profits in your worldwide sales.
No doubt you’re selling on Amazon and eBay, and you’re probably selling worldwide through those channels – it’s what you know, and it’s simple to do, so why wouldn’t you? But other platforms are more popular in other countries worldwide, as we mentioned when we looked at TradeMe in New Zealand. We’re not certainly not saying stop doing that, simply to consider where else you could be reaching customers.
If you’ve not considered selling in south-east Asia, now might be the time to do so – with plenty of ex-pats and native customers looking for quality British products in Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, your products could be reaching further than ever when you sell on Lazada.
Lazada offers over 300 million SKUs from categories including beauty, fashion and electronics to household goods, toys, sports equipment and even groceries. Sellers love Lazada because there’s no costs to list – you simply pay a commission on what you sell, meaning on the run-up to Christmas, there’s never been a better time to start selling to customers in south-east Asia. While you might think shipping could be an issue, it really isn’t – simply use your existing shipping provider or access one of Lazada’s UK partners for preferential rates to south-east Asia.
eCommerce is booming in south-east Asia due to increasing purchasing power, insufficient shopping outlets and rapid urbanisation, and while eCommerce return rates can be lower in the region compared with Europe, customers love Lazada’s effortless mobile and web interfaces and dedicated in-house customer support. With flexible payment options including cash-on-delivery, helloPay, credit and debit cards, as well as free returns, customers keep coming back to Lazada, meaning although your margins might be smaller, Lazada can definitely help grow your brand and be part of your success story too.
If you’re going to use another sales platform, particularly overseas, and during this busy time of year, it needs to be as simple as selling on your existing UK & Europe sales channels, and with little to no extra effort, are we right? Well, signing up to sell on Lazada is easy – make contact with them by emailing [email protected], one of their team will create your account, and once you have that, all you need to do is install our Lazada Connector for Linnworks, and you’re ready to make your products available to over 190 million potential customers in the south-east Asia region. The only additional effort required is for processing your additional orders and thinking about how you’re going to use your profits!
The connector helps you manage your orders, inventory and listings alongside your other sales channels, but the only other thing to consider is that with Lazada, same-day shipping is strongly preferred, and orders should definitely be shipped within 48 hours. You’re likely to already be doing this with your other sales channels, so we don’t expect this to cause you a big issue.
Should you have questions once you’ve reviewed the information on how to install the Lazada Connector for Linnworks, get in touch! We’re happy to help.