Aggressive growth targets of 100 per cent YOY, a high energy atmosphere at work for the Daraz team of over 1000 members, their average age being 25. Striking a balance and harmony between tough targets, young blood and the fast-changing face of e commerce in the country is Daraz’ Managing Director, Rakhil Fernando who has been in the driving seat for just over a year.
BMD spoke to him about his leadership in driving e commerce to a different level in Sri Lanka.
Q: Daraz is in its fourth year of operation. How would you assess its performance so far?
We have actually outperformed our target this year. It has been the best year so far for us.
Penetration of online sales is only 1 per cent of total retail sales in Sri Lanka as yet. Our clear focus is to expand this figure to at least 3 per cent in the next 24 months. To review performance to date, Daraz is the e commerce leader in the country holding approximately 50 per cent of total digital retail sales. Our total registered customer base (those who have downloaded our app) is over 1.5 million of whom a majority visit our site on a monthly basis.
We obviously leverage from our link with Alibaba.com (Daraz belongs to the Alibaba group) and our regional presence as a leading digital marketplace in South Asia, mainly in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.