Beyond Lazada eCommerce 2.0 – Schumart

“Before Lazada, we required more manpower to manage lesser products. This was because we didn’t have Lazada’s integrated processes in place, which helps us to connect the customers’ orders from start to end,” Ethan Ong, Managing Director of Schumart, said.

Starting a business is not an easy feat, and continuing from a legacy is even harder. Today, Beyond Lazada eCommerce’s Passion With A Voice sits down with Schumart’s Ethan Ong and understands his journey with the brand and their e-commerce progress on Lazada.

With over 500 footwear products listed and a long list of returning customers, Schumart’s journey was not a walk in the park. Founded by Ong Siew Siong, and now managed by his son, Ethan Ong, the senior Mr Ong operated a B2B distribution channel for shoes for over twenty years.

Helping out with his father since his younger days, Ethan had missed out on the fun of holidays but gained invaluable experience in business management.

“In hindsight, I’m glad that he showed us the ropes early on because it really helped shaped how I view the business today. Naturally, over the years, I grew attached to the business and found a career in it as well.”

Schumart became a huge part of Ethan’s life. With the business dealing with shoes, he found himself looking at strangers’ footwear.

“Call it a working habit, but I’ll always make an effort to guess the make, the brand, and the material of the shoes.”

An online presence started becoming essential for Schumart in expanding its business. Online sales were coming in from their website, but it was too time-consuming and costly in terms of marketing expenses.

Schumart decided to come onto the Lazada platform in 2019 to expand its online presence. “As time goes by, we got familiarised with the (Lazada) interface. Things got pretty easy and became quite smooth sailing after all.”

While Lazada was not Schumart’s first e-commerce platform, it is one that the brand continues on. Without the user-friendly and appropriate functions which are readily available on Lazada, the brand faced issues such as haggling by potential customers on the other platforms.

“People would try and lowball our product listings,” Ethan shared. The haggling had created unnecessary tensions between Schumart and its customers. This issue was resolved when the brand came on Lazada.

Before joining Lazada, Ethan shared that Schumart required more manpower for a smaller inventory of products. With integrated processes on Lazada, Schumart can quickly and efficiently manage their online orders, getting the products into the hands of their customers without delay. “Today, even with an ever-changing online catalogue, our customer base remains just as strong.”

Four years after opening up their Lazada e-store, Schumart now has over 7600 followers with an astounding 97% positive reviews.

“We’ve seen a lot of customers, many many wonderful customers in fact, and we do have quite a number of repeated customers as well, purchasing many many pairs of flip-flops.”

Indeed, Schumart carries quality and affordable flip-flops for their customers on their Lazada store, making it a great store for customers new and returning. Their Havaianas Unisex Top Black Flip Flops have sold a whooping 4662 pairs so far, and 2365 pairs of Havaianas Women Slim Rose Gold Flip Flops in the hands of satisfied customers.

“All in all, I think that it gives us great satisfaction and a sense of pride in the things that we do when we can provide customers with a perfect pair of shoes.”

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Beyond Lazada eCommerce’s Passion With A Voice! We can’t wait to bring you more Lazada sellers’ stories! Happy Selling!