As part of the collaboration, consumers will be able to purchase 66 of Unilever’s beauty and personal care products from the online portal, daraz.pk/unilever, from brands like Pond’s, Toni & Guy and Dove.
The initiative is part of Unilever’s global e-commerce vision that focuses on increasing revenue share from e-commerce.
The partnership is the first of many more planned to go live within the year.
According to VP of Unilever Pakistan Customer Development Amir Paracha; “Despite being a developing country, we have found Pakistan to be highly adaptive to innovation. E-Commerce in Pakistan is forecasted to generate a turnover of PKR 4 billion over the next 5 years, with much of this growth being driven by beauty & personal care products."
Pakistan identified as a lucrative market
Pakistan has been identified as a high potential market because of the high mobile penetration and increasing usage of internet across the country.
Daraz.pk shopping portal currently offers a portfolio of over 400 brands and 15,000 products ranging from fashion apparel to beauty products, with over 1.2 million unique visitors each month.
This was launched in Pakistan in 2012 and delivers to over 200 cities across Pakistan.
Unilever reports that e-commerce in Pakistan is forecaste to generate a turnover of PKR4bn over the next five years, with much of this growth being driven by beauty and personal care products.
E-commerce in Asia
E-commerce is enjoying a strong showing across Asia, as consumers increasingly adopt new retail platforms in the most developed markets, such as China, which boasts the largest online marketplace in the world, right through to those less advanced, like Pakistan.
In neighbouring India for example, revenues of e-commerce companies may increase threefold in the next three years, reaching 504 billion rupees ($8.13 billion) according to Indian research firm Crisil.