Xiaomi’s Flash Sale Pushed Lazada’s Traffic, Not Its Customer Satisfaction

That Lazada Indonesia has just achieved a sensational milestone by selling 15 thousand units of Xiaomi Redmi S in only 10 minutes, and 85.000 units in less than two months, via online transaction (flash sale) is not uncommon to hear. In regard to the achievement, Lazada Indonesia’s CEO Magnus Ekbom stated that brands can no longer put online transaction aside from their marketing stratgy when being met at his office in Jakarta.

“This is the time when people are so close to their mobile that they even bring it everywhere they go, even often until they sleep at night. It is true that the number of online shoppers in Indonesia is not that many, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t want to shop online,” he claimed.

He took the remarkable sales of Redmi 1S as a reference. Well, thousands units were sold in a relatively short period, no selling method can do it but online. “To sell products in no time, online system would be the most probable way,” he continued.

Ekbom believes that it is time for other brands to start regarding online as their main marketing strategy. He claimed, “This electronic trade can’t be done partially, it has to be 110 percent, just like what Xiaomi did.”

He then added that it is possible for Lazada to hold another flash sale for other brands, although he admitted that not all brands can implement this method.

If there’s a positive impact from the flash sale, then it would be the bump of traffic that Lazada gained. “People visited Lazada not only to participate in the flash sale, but also to take a look at other categories that Lazada offers,” Ekbom added. Unfortunately, he was unable to describe the increase in detail.

At the regional level, Lazada has indeed had a sweet victory. In the past two years, the company has received more than US$430 million investment from a number of investors. Now, Lazada has been operating in six Southeast Asian countries and gathered a total of eight thousands merchants.

Ekbom further said that despite being one of top e-commerce players in Indonesia, Lazada’s level of customer satisfaction is still considerably low. In fact, from 1000 customers who participated in the survey, only 75-80 percent stated that they were satisfied with Lazada’s services.

The CEO further added that while trust, online payment, logistics, and fulfillment are still being an issue ever since three years ago, the online shopping industry in Indonesia has yet encountered any significant challenge. In particular, Ekbom cautioned e-commerce players in Indonesia not to play with customers’ trust, as it could backfire them, sometimes even with bigger consequences.