Digital Business Analysis of Zalora: Strategies for Growth and Success

This report provides a comprehensive digital business analysis of Zalora, a leading online fashion e-commerce site in Asia. It explores the company's introduction, outlining its expansion and diverse product offerings, including apparel, beauty products, and accessories from various brands. The analysis delves into the reasons behind Zalora's success, such as its user-friendly interface, unparalleled shopping experience, and free delivery options, while also acknowledging areas where the company has faced challenges. The report examines Zalora's social media marketing strategies, highlighting its active presence on platforms like Facebook and TikTok, and details specific steps the company can take to gain a competitive advantage through updated websites, exclusive offers, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), customer reviews, and geo-specific keywords. The report also includes a reflective outline of the assignment, summarizing key learning points and insights gained from the analysis.

Running head: DIGITAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF ZALORA
Digital business analysis of Zalora
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DIGITAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF ZALORA
Table of Contents
Introduction of the company................................................................................................2
Reasons for the success of the company..............................................................................3
Steps for taking competitive advantage...............................................................................4
Outline of the assignment....................................................................................................6
Reference List......................................................................................................................8

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DIGITAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF ZALORA
Introduction and outline of the company
In the present time, Zalora is considered the leading online fashion site in Asia. E-
commerce is slowly growing, and the company have a clear focus on how they will be expanding
in the future. The e-commerce site was founded in the early months of 2012 (Zalora.com, 2020).
The e-commerce is present in different parts of the world, including Singapore, Brunei and
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Vietnam (Putro and Haryanto 2015). The
company have also announced that it is going to expand in Taiwan. This shows that the company
is very much active in most of South-East Asia (Zamri and Idris 2013). With the expansion of
the business, the company is slowing taking a string place in the e-commerce market. There a lot
of option to be selected from at the site of Zalora. Users get a lot of choices of dresses to be
chosen from. The company offers clothes from different brands and costumes from different
seasons are also available on the online site of the company. The online site has over 500
international brands as well as local designer products as well (Saputri 2016). The site has a wide
variety of clothes for both the men as well as women. Products such as women apparels, Beauty
products, shoes and different accessories are available in the online site. The company have also
been known to have the option of third-day return policy which is an excellent option available
in the present context on online shopping. If a certain amount of shopping is done, the company
have the option of free delivery. There is the presence of multiple payment options in the
company, which even includes cash on delivery.
The e-commerce website of the company was opened in 2012 in various places such as
Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand
(Handoko 2016). The company raised a total of $100 million with the help of Rocket Internet in
2013 May (Handoko 2016). The company mainly believes in customer satisfaction, and the

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DIGITAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF ZALORA
company have been known to give significant priority to the customers. The wide range of
products which is available on the site of the company is beneficial for all kinds of customers
who like to purchase a variety of products from online stores. The company is slowly reaching
different places and is gathering a lot of customers all over the world. With the expansion of the
company in different parts of the world, the company is increasing its business in different parts
of the world. The company have opened its e-commerce site in Malaysia as Zadora Malaysia and
is considered to be the best fashion boutique in the country. The website has attracted a lot of
customers for the company.
Success and failure of the digital business of the company
The company has been very successful in the present time, and it has been seen that the
company have been generating more revenue with each passing years. The success of the
company can be attributed to a lot of reasons:
 User interface: The e-commerce site has various filters through which the customers of
the company are guided so that they can select the product which is most suitable for
them. The presence of a wide range of product in the e-commerce site the company can
provide its customers with the specific kind of product they wish to buy (Pradana and
Novitasari 2017).
 Unparalleled shopping experience: The customers in the e-commerce website do not
have any kind of problem regarding the shopping experience. The navigation of the
various menus on the shopping site is straightforward. The consumers do not find the
online site difficult to use (Parastanti 2014). This aids the company in understanding the
various process by the help of which the company will be able to provide a better
experience to the customers. There are a lot of subsections in the online site, which gives

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the customers the option of looking at the various options which are available to them.
With a better user interface the company have been able to provide a good user
experience to its customers.
 The option of free delivery: Major e-commerce sites around the world have the option of
free delivery (Pasaribu and Dewi 2015). Whenever a customer purchases a certain
amount of products, then they are given the chance of availing free delivery option. This
option helps the company in attracting a lot of customers as they receive the choice of
free delivery.
Some of the areas in which the company have faced failure is the inclusion of different
items in their website like electronic goods are certain household items. The delivery time of the
products is very high as compared to other companies.
Social media marketing of Zalora
The company have readily addressed the fact that most of the people from Asia are more
active on social media than other countries. The company have been very active in the social
media from the very beginning (Vohra 2020). In the year 2013, the company saw that there was
a huge rise in the Facebook traffic which aided the company in gathering a lot of customers
(Vohra 2020). The company have taken to Facebook to advertise its products as it was seen that
in the tome there was a huge increase in the number of users in social media. It was found out the
people who use social media have come back to the site more often following the advertisements
of the company. The company implemented the policy of daily coupons and coupon sites by the
aid of which it attracted customers (Vohra 2020). The company have also opened an official
TikTok account which was targeted at the TikTok audiences.

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DIGITAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF ZALORA
The competitive advantage of the company by using digital business
Specific steps need to be taken by the company to gain a competitive advantage over its
competitors:
 The website of the company needs to be updated on a regular basis and adding more new
features on a weekly basis.
 Exclusive offers needs to be provided by the company to its customers. A notification of
the new offers must reach the customers on their phone app. This will be ensuring that
they revisit the website and buy more products from the company (Gupta and Davin
2015).
 The Key Performance Indicators must be implemented by the company so that it can
effectively score its performances in reaching its marketing strategy targets. The KPIs for
the company must be including the number of new customers who are visiting the
website daily. Another KPI must be the number of old customers who have revisited the
company. The company will be able to understand its performance by the help of
fulfilling the KPIs set by the company for its digital marketing.
 The review from the users must be looked upon by the company with utter importance to
ensure that a better customer experience is provided to the users. The company must
implement the policy of reviewing its customer review and ensure that the users are given
an optimum experience in buying products from the company (Gupta and Davin 2015).
 The company can make a profile on Google+ local page which will be helping the
company to gather more customers (Gupta and Davin 2015). Since the company have
opened its retailing stores, it can give the location of its physical stores along with the
opening as well as closing time of the stores.

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DIGITAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF ZALORA
 Geo-specific keywords must be used by the company which will help the customers in
finding the retailing stores in a quicker and better way. In the context of modern business
it can be said that implementation of specific keywords will be uplifting the digital
marketing of the company.
Outline of the assignment
In this study, I analyzed a digital business named 'Zalora.com', which is the fastest and
largest growing Southeast Asian e-commerce site. Founded in 2012, it gradually grew to many
Asian locations such as Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines, etc.
with its fashion-focused offering (Zalora.com 2020). The study was learning to me in many
ways. Here in this section, I would explain the things that I learnt from doing the assignment on
‘Zalora.com’.
The assignment allowed me to know about the existence of a digital business, which is
doing good in many parts of Asia. It made me understood things, which are necessary for the
success of an e-commerce business. These things are simple and secure shopping experience for
the customer, availability of a more comprehensive product range, accessible navigation features,
etc. It also made me learn about the art to sell a variety of range of items on an e-commerce site.
After doing this assignment, I feel filled with a lot of confidence to run my own e-commerce
business. I hope this will give me a great career opportunity, a platform that is hardly realizable
in the job world.
I could learn the art of creating a market identity in a marketplace where the competition
is enormous. All it requires doing things least done by the rivals. Keeping the products and
services distinguished from those of competitors to some extent is one of the elements needed to

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DIGITAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS OF ZALORA
make the difference. Zalora.com offers big brands on its site whereas few of its rivals provide the
‘Local and Asian Designers’. This is called differentiating the offers. However, differentiation
strategy will work only if the product has the customer value and is also profitable for the
shareholders.
The study has helped me learn about a few things that can affect the success of digital
business. One of these is the cost of a product. In the world of an e-commerce business, one
product can be purchased from multiple e-commerce sites. However, the price of a product does
vary for each of many e-commerce sites. The one with better pricing deal will perhaps be the
most attractive for the users. So, I learnt that pricing is an essential factor for the success of an e-
commerce site.
Few areas of an e-commerce site should be given serious consideration to making
it friendlier for the users. These areas mentioned below:
 Online shoppers should have easy access to the e-commerce site. They should not be
asked for a ‘log in’ formality for the purchase purpose;
 The website should load faster or else the impact on users will be less effective;
 Users should not face any difficulty related to the product finding;
 The site should contain attractive images of the products.
This work will also benefit me in my academics. The work experience that I had with
doing the task could help me doing more such functions in the future. The quality of my job
related to digital business in academics will significantly improve.

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Reference List
Foster, B., 2017. Pengaruh Pengalaman Belanja Online Produk Fashion terhadap Kepuasan dan
Niat Beli Ulang Pelanggan Zalora serta Berrybenka. Kontigensi: Scientific Journal of
Management, 5(1), pp.68-76.
Gupta, S. and Davin, J., 2015. Marketing reading: Digital Marketing.
Handoko, L.P., 2016. The Effect of Product Quality and Delivery Service on Online-customer
Satisfaction in Zalora Indonesia. Jurnal EMBA: Jurnal Riset Ekonomi, Manajemen, Bisnis dan
Akuntansi, 4(1).
Massie, K.S., 2016. The effect of social media, direct email, and electronic word-of mouth (E-
WOM) on consumer purchase decision at Zalora fashion online store. Jurnal EMBA: Jurnal
Riset Ekonomi, Manajemen, Bisnis dan Akuntansi, 4(2).
Parastanti, G.P., 2014. Pengaruh Prior Online Purchase Experience terhadap Trust dan Online
Repurchase Intention (Survey pada Pelanggan ZALORA Indonesia Melalui Website www.
zalora. co. id). Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis, 16(1).
Pasaribu, L.O. and Dewi, C.K., 2015. Pengaruh Hedonic Shopping Motivation Terhadap Impulse
Buying Pada Toko Online: Studi Pada Toko Online Zalora. Bina Ekonomi, 19(2), pp.159-170.
Pradana, M. and Novitasari, F., 2017. Gap analysis of Zalora online application: Indonesian
users' perspectives. International Journal of Learning and Change, 9(4), pp.334-347.
Purwaningsih, R. and Adison, B., 2016, October. Path analysis method to identify factors
affecting consumer interest on online shopping. In 2016 2nd International Conference on
Science in Information Technology (ICSITech) (pp. 20-25). IEEE.

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Putro, H.B. and Haryanto, B., 2015. Factors affecting purchase intention of online shopping in
Zalora Indonesia. Journal of Economics, Management and Trade, pp.1-12.
Saputri, M.E., 2016. Perilaku Pembelian Online Produk Fashion Pada Zalora Indonesia. Jurnal
Sosioteknologi, 15(2), pp.291-297.
Vohra, K., 2020. Interview: How To Rock At Ecommerce. [online] Social Media Today.
Available at: <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/interview-how-rock-ecommerce>
[Accessed 16 March 2020].
Zalora.com. 2020. ZALORA - ASIA's LEADING ONLINE FASHION DESTINATION. [online]
Available at: <https://www.zalora.com/> [Accessed 13 March 2020].
Zamri, N.B. and Idris, I., 2013, June. The Effects of Attitude, Social Influences and Perceived
Behavioral Control on Intention to Purchase Online Shopping Apparels in Malaysia: Case Study
on Zalora. In 3rd International Conference on Management, Penang (pp. 10-11).