How does Daraz empower 20,000 sellers from across Pakistan?

The marketplace's goal is to create a million jobs by 2022, focusing on technology and education.
Published October 26, 2019

Operating on a marketplace model, Daraz, the leading online platform in Pakistan, focuses significantly on innovative measures to empower a community of 20,000+ sellers from across the country.

Through initiatives such as the Gyara Gyara (11.11 sale) which drive heavy traffic, Daraz enables these sellers to scale their businesses.

A self-taught carpenter, Hamza Khan is a seller from Karachi who manufactures and sells furniture products.
A self-taught carpenter, Hamza Khan is a seller from Karachi who manufactures and sells furniture products.

Daraz’s seller base - which has grown tremendously from 3,000 last year to 20,000 this year - contributes to 95% of the platform’s business, making the sellers community the platform’s primary stakeholder.

While a large portion of this community is based in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, more than 30% of the sellers are based outside of these three metropolises - in Gujranwala, Chitral and Sahiwal and Peshawar. Women running family-based businesses in remote areas of Pakistan form a large portion of the growing seller base.

Atif Riaz, a seller from Lahore.
Atif Riaz, a seller from Lahore.

Daraz’ mission is to ‘make it easy to do business anywhere in the era of digital economy’ and the platform is aiming to create one million jobs by 2022. By focusing on technology and education, the platform has been able to create 50,000 jobs in the past year.

Every seller and online business that gets on board has a positive spillover effect, with the creation of at least five more jobs to support the online operations of that business.

In order to empower sellers and ensure that their online businesses continue to grow, Daraz has launched a number of initiatives that seek to increase their access to opportunities in the digital age.

1. Imparting business knowledge through Daraz University (DU)

Technology and seller education are key in creating a safe and happy shopping experience. DU is an online platform set-up by Daraz, which gives new and existing sellers the knowledge they need to start and scale their online businesses.

Free-of-cost tutorials focusing on pricing, product quality, customer service and order fulfillment are available on the platform. 2,000 new sellers are educated through the platform every month. With the platform’s Gyara Gyara sale fast-approaching, DU is guiding sellers to create the best bundles and deals possible for customers.

2. Opportunities for global trade

In September, Daraz launched DExports in collaboration with its parent-company Alibaba. The program enables sellers to list their products on Alibaba’s B2B website, and reach over 300 million buyers in 200 countries around the world. Daraz is providing sellers complete support not only in terms of logistics, but also in the form of education that focuses on global trade.

3. Daraz Hubs and facilitation centers for offline support

Daraz Hubs are miniature warehouses where sellers can drop-off packages once they receive an order. There are 47 such hubs across Pakistan, making it easier and faster for sellers to fulfill orders. These hubs also offer customer service activities, which include assisting customers with order returns, refunds and order placement. Weekly classes and bootcamps are also held at the hubs to help sellers with their online business.

Marketplace sellers are the primary stakeholders at Daraz. They drive the majority of the platform’s business. In addition to hubs, facilitation centers have also been launched in a number of major cities to help new sellers with product photography, product listings and order fulfillment, till the time they receive their first 60 orders.

4. Access to best in class technology

Daraz empowers sellers by giving them access to unprecedented technology. With the launch of features such as instant messaging, the platform has enabled customer-initiated interaction between buyers and sellers. Through their direct communication with a large customer base, sellers are able to receive and implement feedback regarding product quality, as well as increase the number of sales.

Mega sales such as Gyara Gyara attract a large number of customers, and by being a part of such sales sellers have the opportunity to increase their sales and scale their businesses.

During 11.11.2018, Daraz saw an 80x increase in orders with 3 million users visiting the app. This year, Daraz expects to host 10 million visitors on its platform. Sellers also benefit from multi-million dollar marketing and discount budgets that would’ve been impossible to imagine independently.

Daraz takes significant measures to engage sellers in the sale and to help them make the most of it. The event provides a unique opportunity for sellers to increase the number of orders they receive, not only during the sale but on non-campaign days after, too.


This is a paid advertisement by Daraz and is not associated with or necessarily reflective of the views of Dawn.com and its editorial staff.