So I finally bought something from Zalora

They’re everywhere. Zalora (and sister company Lazada) have outbid most other brands in Google Adsense. Heck, you’re probably seeing a Zalora or Lazada ad right now to your right. As someone who’s been watching their parent company, Rocket Internet grow in the Philippines for quite some time, Zalora has been in the spotlight as one of the most aggressive online sellers in the country to date.

Truth is, I’ve never bought anything from them and that’s a big surprise even to myself as I occasionally have goods shipped through Amazon. And then (**proud moment**) there’s the craft beer I had shipped from Belgium.

I’ve heard so many horror stories about Zalora’s customer service and delivery methods, but this one won’t be about that. Truth is I can find most, if not all of Zalora’s items in the Greenbelt mall complex across our office and the concept of window shopping is very inherent in every Filipino.

So I received some free vouchers over the holidays. Over the holidays we’ve been stuck at home with our new baby boy and that obviously meant going out to the mall was cut to a minimum. I still do prefer window shopping, especially for clothes (there’s nothing like ‘touching cloth’ — haha!) but in between getting back on the groove for work and being with the baby, there were a lot of lifestyle changes — such as the types of video games I could play (no more MMO’s).

Anyway, I received three vouchers worth PHP 3,000.00 total. Not having anything particular in mind, I was happy with the option to search for anything that fit my budget. Note well: these vouchers are apparently not stackable and that was a slight bummer which meant I could only apply the discount code once per shipment. I was expecting these vouchers to be treated more like “topping up” load in a mobile phone where you get credited for the full amount, similar to how the PSN Store, Apple iTunes store and Steam Wallet treat online credits. Small hitch. So I went on to look for items that were below PHP 1,000. Lo and behold I found a polo shirt and one of those novelty paper wallets I’ve always been curious about.

Order placed. Had both items delivered in separate packages. I had a missed opportunity in the “special instructions” box. Should have written “write me a funny joke in the packaging” … somebody please try that next time. The packages arrived after 4 days as promised in the TOS. So yeah I didn’t have a bad experience — in fact it was pretty good.

If you have to ask, yeah I’d probably use them again. I really wish though they’d carry items that don’t normally get carried in the Philippines. That would give it an edge. Give it some time and you’ll probably see SM / Robinson’s / Metro building their own online retail service. So they really need to differentiate themselves. Zalora has done an amazing job with the marketing effort and though opinion about their services are of polar opposites, it looks like they’re here to stay for the long haul.

If you’ve never tried them out, you should soon. It’s Zalora.com.ph.