Clothes, gadgets, accessories, furniture, home improvement items, even food, anything you could possibly think of, can probably be purchased through e-commerce platforms.

During the onset of the pandemic, online shopping did not only become prominent, but it has become a part of people’s way of life. Aside from the convenience it brings, it offers a cheaper price for the same brands you will find in physical stores. Imagine not being able to find a specific ingredient in a grocery store near you, with just a few taps from your fingers on your phone, you can have it delivered to your front door in just a day – all that while you were just sitting comfortably on your couch. It is also helpful for consumers to see reviews from other buyers to check for the legitimacy and quality of the products, which contributes to their decision of purchasing.

For the retailers, on the other hand, these sites provide an avenue for them to sell their products without the usual operating costs of having a physical store. It is also easier for retailers to market their products online as there is an additional option of paid advertisements.

In the Philippines, the two most popular online shopping platforms are Lazada and Shopee, which begs the question “Who does it better?” Both offer accessibility to a wide array of products, fast delivery times, and inexpensive price tags.
In a study done by Capstone-Intel, it has been found that on Facebook, Shopee has a substantial advantage in engagement scores compared to Lazada, which means that Shopee garners more reactions, comments, and shares. However, Lazada has a more commendable positive reaction response, which are the “Like” and “Love” reactions from its audience for each post, compared to Shopee. Shopee also has a higher number of mentions across social media platforms, including Facebook. These two often utilize celebrities and influencers from both the local and international scenes for marketing, and there I would think that they are at par.

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Capstone-Intel Corporation, is a private research agency with the commitment to providing high-impact research further strengthened by actionable intelligence. The agency also investigated website visits, where it was found that Shopee garners 10 million more website views per month compared to Lazada. Additionally, Shopee users tend to have a balanced traffic share between desktop and mobile use. Lazada users on the other hand tend to favor using the mobile app more than its desktop website counterpart. The data Capstone-Intel collected was spanned from April 26, 2022 to May 26, 2023.

In my opinion, and from the observations from the posts I see online, people often complain about the interface of Lazada as it is not user-friendly unlike that of Shopee. Though people are slowly opting to use Lazada as it offers a safer mode of delivery for parcels. There are multiple concerns with Shopee’s delivery services as consumers often complain about missing or delayed delivery of their parcels. I switched from using Shopee to Lazada as the latter offers same-day delivery for a low fee. I have also never encountered any issues with the products that they offer or their delivery riders being rude.

To this day, many Filipinos still use Lazada and Shopee interchangeably; which is better? Maybe it depends on your preference as a consumer – or these two will continue to battle out until the end of time.