ZALORA GROUP
accessories , sporting gear and beauty products . It sells the majority of these via its extensive online shop and mobile app to customers in seven countries across Asia . Not only has the company developed a strong presence in each of these countries , it has managed to achieve this in the face of a rapidly maturing and evolving market , where competitors close to the point of manufacture are all fighting for the same consumers .
Duri charts the journey ZALORA has taken to reach critical mass : “ When we arrived the industry was definitely very far away from where an eCommerce industry should be . The learnings from developed e-comm markets like the US or China had not reached the market yet , so there was a lot of ground work that needed to be done .”
Since then the company has set about aligning its operations to suit both the nuanced fashion demands of the markets its serves while developing a supporting supply chain that is not only functional but also brings new competitive layers to the business .
Supply chain and transformation
Transforming ZALORA ’ s supply chain had to be approached from multiple angles , starting with the consolidation of its distribution centres into a single operation in Malaysia serving the majority of its markets . “ The key here is integration , on top of traditional e-commerce warehouse management systems and technology to manage our fulfilment centres ,” notes Duri .
“ The consolidation of our operation around a main hub based out of Malaysia was a great success for ZALORA . Despite major infrastructural changes in the order fulfillment , customer experience has remained untouched and our customers didn ’ t even perceive the change .
“ We kept on delivering the next day to all destinations with exactly the same amount of orders we were doing the day before . This was a great team achievement and unique result in the e-commerce sphere made possible not only
64 September 2016