Online shopping firm opens Cebu hub

CEBU, Philippines - Online shopping company, Lazada Philippines, expressed its confidence on the upbeat growth of online selling in the country with the opening of its new logistics hub in Cebu.

Lazada Philippines said its 2,500-square meter warehouse located in Mandaue City, Cebu serves as a logistics hub for receiving items from its merchants in Cebu. It also sorts and dispatches packages for customer delivery in Cebu, Iloilo and Bacolod.

"With our new warehouse, Visayas-based merchants and customers will experience improved fulfillment and delivery times as well as additional services," Lazada Philippines CEO Inanc Balci said.

The hub also serves as a transshipment point for packages coming from Cebu retailers for delivery to the rest of the country.

Balci told reporters yesterday in an interview the Cebu hub has its fleet of trucks and motorbikes and third party logistics providers to improve delivery in the Visayas area.

The Cebu hub currently employs 50 warehouse and delivery staff and Lazada expects to create more jobs in the coming year.

Balci said the firm has close to 10,000 partner merchants all over the country.

While majority of the shopping activities in the country are still done traditionally, the CEO is optimistic that online shopping in the Philippines will continue to boom amid the rising smartphone penetration.

"The growth of online shopping in the Philippines will continue," Balci said.

Lazada, who claims to have captured 80% of the country's online shopping market, sells electronic gadgets, home appliances, fashion and beauty items, toys, and travel tools, among others.

Its main logistics hub in the country is located in Manila while it plans to open another facility in Mindanao and another 10 new hubs in the next 12 months. It currently has 14 existing hubs in key cities in the country.

Lazada is a growing online shopping marketplace in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. (FREEMAN)