Black Friday Broke All Previous Online Shopping Records for Pakistan
Black Friday Broke All Previous Online Shopping Records for Pakistan
I am going to call it a massive hit. Daraz — and other online shopping stores — broke all previous sale records, with Daraz standing out as a clear winner during the entire event for more sales than anyone lese.
Before we get into statistical details for Black Friday, I am very clear about one thing: This black Friday was the best thing that has ever happened to Pakistan’s ecommerce industry since its inception.
Despite all the hiccups, down times, website sluggishness, out of stock and other related issues, I will say that Daraz successfully planted a seed that will help grow Pakistan’s ecommerce industry to the next level.
There were issues — technical and otherwise too — I can say this without any doubt, but let’s not compare Pakistan’s nascent ecommerce solution with established western standards.
Rather, we should gauge how well consumers responded to a call that was spread through digital mediums, how massively Pakistanis went to online stores when majority of them didn’t trust online stores just a few days ago, and by considering that how many of orders were paid in advance in a market where 95% plus consumers used to opt COD (cash on delivery) because they wanted to feel the product before they pay for it.
I would say that the the buzz I witnessed on November 27th, 2015 and then the way orders started to reach the buyers as early as Friday morning (with-in few hours of placing the orders) and the magnitude of sales that Pakistani online stores managed to achieve, is astounding, very significant and was unforeseen.
Daraz.PK’s Sales on Black Friday
- Daraz received 1.5 million visits on its website on Black Friday
- Daraz received 55 times more orders on Nov 27th than a regular shopping day
- Shoppers enjoyed a total of Rs 132 million worth of discounts from the company – that only leaves one wondering how high their revenue for the day must have been with electronics being the highest selling category.
- Daraz sold a large number of iPhone 6S handsets, which were available at 26% discount (Rs 18,000 off), within the first few minutes.
- The number of men’s shoes sold on the day were equivalent to the sales made in three months even though men’s shoes is a strong category on a regular day as well.
- Daraz.pk sold more fridges, washing machines and gaming consoles on Black Friday than it has in the history of Daraz.
- 66.7% of the orders on Black Friday were from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad – 40.3%, 17.5% and 8.9%, respectively and the rest were all from other Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
- Thanks to Easypay discount option – one third of the payments made on Black Friday were debit/credit card payments.
- 25% of the total visits on Daraz.pk were on the Daraz app
This infographic has been provided by Daraz.PK
What Consumers Think About Black Friday?
Thanks to respondents of a ProPakistani poll, we have some idea of consumers’ sentiments for Black Friday. Poll results suggest that less than 8% people didn’t know of Black Friday, hinting that the idea that was floated just couple of weeks ago, penetrated well into the masses and more than 92% people knew about it, even if they didn’t buy anything.
A vast majority of respondents, i.e. more than 50% of individuals, said that they wanted to make a purchase on Black Friday but didn’t because either they didn’t find anything interesting or prices were not as per their expectation; hinting that these overwhelming number of consumers were just ready but didn’t make a transaction this time.
We anticipate that as ecommerce industry will mature in Pakistan, one should expect better prices and more variety of products during such shopping festivals and that’s when above mentioned sales’ numbers will get multiplied with at least 2 digit figure in just an year from now.
More details in below infographic:
malikmuddser