Presently valued at over $60 million, Pakistan’s e-commerce industry is doubling in size every year – that is, it is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 100%. Experts from the e-commerce sector predict this trend to continue during the next three to five years and help the industry cross over the $5 billion milestone in 2020.
The broadband penetration (number of internet connections per population size), though still in the 12% range, is the actual operator for the recent growth in e-commerce.
With this relentless growth projection & internet access for all Pakistanis gradually becoming cheaper and easier, many new players have emerged over the e-commerce horizon.
One of them is JoChaho.pk, an online mega store directed towards catering the increasingly growing online shopping needs of the Pakistani consumer. JoChaho, bearing the tagline: The Mall that has it All, caught our attention when it created ripples in the business sector a day before. As per the word, coming from a rather obscure source, JoChaho.pk made an unbelievable sales record of Rs 300 million in a single day!
It’s a huge amount for a company in Pakistan to cater to this number of consumers in a single day, particularly, when the selling portal is very new.
The massive sales claim followed by the above statement piqued our interest in the matter greatly.
After all, who doesn’t want to get to the roots of possible marketing gimmicks!
JoChaho, launched fourteen months ago, is an offshoot of the Ruba-SEZ Group. The group began its groundbreaking journey in 1971. Since its inception, the group has continuously raised the bar of its expertise and has been maintaining a diverse projects catalog in various sectors, inclusive of electronics, lighting, lifestyle, automotive, retail, supply chain, construction etc.
The next stride of business progression, consequently, employed the idea of activating JoChaho.pk as a 24/7 online consumer store: a modern business conglomerate which ultimately becomes the global corporate identity of Pakistani enterprises. The store was launched in March 2015.
The name picked out for the portal effectively reflected upon the big idea: Jo Chaho – whatever you want.
To confirm the recent sales claim we contacted Mr. Javed Afridi, the Chief Executive Officer at Haier Pakistan as well as Ruba-SEZ Group, and found him absolutely thrilled over the successful business traction.
It’s a Corporate B2B deal. The actual worth of the deal is $3.5 Million.
Afridi confirmed.
When we shared the general sentiment of disbelief at the authenticity of the claim, Afridi clarified the nature of B2B deal he had signed with Yusuf Siddiqui, Head of R.C.D. – a Lahore based corporate organization. Web presence of the company remained elusive to our search, though.
R.C.D. is our corporate client. The current business deal has been of electronic items, only.
Afridi explained.
Given that the country’s overall retail market is worth $40 billion, the industry experts believe e-commerce in Pakistan is still in its infancy – it is barely 0.2% of the overall market.
While it is extremely encouraging to witness a business environment warming up to latest trends in digital commerce, the question arises whether Pakistani consumers be a part of this shopping revolution. We can safely assume that this influx of digital medium of sales would also have a positive impact for Pakistani’s e-commerce market.
With strong distribution structures existing, and connection with the giants Haier & Ruba-SEZ, JoChaho has arrived in the market with an established advantage.
What now remains to be seen is how JoChaho uses its strengths against the substantial competition in the flourishing e-commerce sector in Pakistan.
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
