CLOCKWORK Webisode #2: How Ray Alimurung’s transformational leadership shaped Lazada Philippines
Summary
TLDRIn this Clockwork interview, Ray Alimurung, CEO of Lazada Philippines, shares insights into the e-commerce industry. He discusses his personal online shopping habits, the importance of a clear vision for a CEO, and the challenges of building trust in digital payments. Alimurung also talks about Lazada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company's commitment to technology, and his leadership style that fosters a culture of experimentation and respect.
Takeaways
- 🛒 Ray Alimurung, CEO of Lazada Philippines, is a frequent user of his own platform, often purchasing floor cleaners, disinfectants, groceries, and personal care items online.
- ⏰ Ray starts his day by checking his schedule, which is managed by an assistant, and prefers to book meetings in 30-minute increments to maintain focus.
- ☕ Ray is a coffee drinker and prefers a business casual attire, reflecting the tech startup culture.
- 🚀 The most important trait Ray believes a CEO should possess is the ability to set a clear, simple, and consistent long-term strategic vision.
- 🌐 Ray faced the challenge of building multiple industries simultaneously while establishing Lazada, including e-commerce, logistics, and payments.
- 📈 E-commerce in the Philippines is still less than five percent of retail, indicating significant growth potential.
- 👨⚕️ Ray initially pursued a career in medicine to help people but was inspired by the internet's potential to impact development on a larger scale.
- 🛍️ Lazada has evolved from a retailer to a marketplace to scale and meet consumer needs, showcasing the company's willingness to experiment and adapt.
- 🛒 Lazada expanded its product assortment during the COVID-19 pandemic to cater to essential needs and launched services like online grocery and medicine purchases.
- 💼 Ray emphasizes the importance of a digital strategy for businesses, suggesting investments in high-traffic channels and store management on platforms like Lazada.
- 🔒 Trust is a key focus for Lazada, with efforts to improve seller and product ratings, reviews, and an efficient online return system to address consumer concerns.
Q & A
What is the significance of the shopping app discussed in the interview?
-The shopping app is one of the top e-commerce platforms in the Philippines, making online shopping convenient and changing consumer buying behavior.
What does the CEO of Lazada Philippines usually buy online?
-The CEO buys floor cleaners, disinfectants, groceries, and personal care items online, as he finds it convenient and it has changed his buying behavior.
What is the most important trait for a CEO according to Ray Alimurung?
-Ray Alimurung believes that a CEO must be able to set a clear, simple, and consistent strategic long-term vision, emphasizing that leadership is a marathon, not a sprint.
How does Ray Alimurung manage his daily schedule?
-Ray Alimurung checks his schedule first thing in the morning, managed by an assistant, and books meetings in 30-minute increments to maximize focus.
What was Ray Alimurung's career aspiration as a child?
-Ray Alimurung aspired to be a medical doctor to help people, inspired by his grandfather who was a heart doctor and a pioneer of Philippine medicine.
Why did Ray Alimurung transition from medicine to e-commerce?
-Ray Alimurung saw the potential of the internet to impact Filipinos on a national scale and to capitalize on development in a broader way than one patient at a time.
What was the biggest challenge Ray Alimurung faced in the e-commerce industry?
-The biggest challenge was realizing that building Lazada was not just about building a company but several industries at once, including e-commerce, logistics, and payments.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect Lazada's operations?
-During the pandemic, Lazada expanded its product assortment to cater to consumer needs, launched online grocery and medicine services, and continued to empower businesses to grow online.
What is Ray Alimurung's view on cash on delivery?
-Ray Alimurung acknowledges that cash on delivery addressed early trust concerns but is more expensive for the company due to higher failure rates compared to digital payments.
What does Ray Alimurung believe is essential for big companies in the digital age?
-Ray Alimurung emphasizes that big companies need a digital strategy and should invest in high-traffic channels, store management, and operations to be where consumers are.
How does Ray Alimurung define his leadership style?
-Ray Alimurung's leadership style is meritocratic, treating everyone with respect, and fostering an environment where ideas from all levels are heard and valued.
Outlines
🛒 Introduction to Clockwork and Interview with Mr. Ray
The video script begins with a lively introduction to the show 'Clockwork,' where the host engages in conversations with top Philippine industry leaders. The host sets the stage for an insightful discussion by highlighting the guest's role in revolutionizing shopping through an app. Mr. Ray, the guest, is introduced as the man behind one of the Philippines' leading shopping apps. The host humorously touches on the common online shopping dilemma of adding items to the cart impulsively. Mr. Ray shares his own online shopping habits, emphasizing the convenience of grocery and personal care shopping. He also shares his leadership philosophy, emphasizing the importance of a clear, simple, and consistent long-term vision.
☕️ Personal Insights and Challenges in E-commerce
The conversation transitions to Mr. Ray's personal routine, revealing his disciplined approach to time management. He discusses his preference for coffee and a casual work attire, reflecting the tech startup culture. Mr. Ray then delves into the significant challenges he faced in building the e-commerce platform, Lazada, highlighting the simultaneous development of multiple industries like logistics and digital payments. He contrasts this with the US, where e-commerce had a more gradual adoption. Despite Lazada's ninth anniversary, he views e-commerce in the Philippines as still nascent, with significant growth potential.
👨⚕️ From Medicine to E-commerce
Mr. Ray shares his initial career aspiration to be a medical doctor, influenced by his grandfather, a pioneer in Philippine medicine. He discusses the frustration of addressing poverty through medicine and the realization that a broader impact could be made through technology. This realization led him to leave medicine for business, eventually joining Lazada. He reflects on his family's reaction to his career shift and the goals he set for Lazada, focusing on making it a relevant and trusted e-commerce platform.
📈 Adapting to the Pandemic and Trust in E-commerce
The discussion turns to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Lazada. Mr. Ray explains how the company adapted by expanding product offerings to meet new consumer needs and launching services like online grocery and medicine purchases. He emphasizes the importance of technology in streamlining seller onboarding and operations. Addressing concerns about cash on delivery and privacy, Mr. Ray outlines Lazada's efforts to build trust through transparent ratings and reviews and efficient return processes.
💡 Experimentation, Leadership, and Personal Anecdotes
Mr. Ray discusses Lazada's culture of experimentation, which led to the shift from a retail model to a marketplace model. He acknowledges the company's missteps and the learnings from them, drawing a parallel to Thomas Edison's perspective on failure. His leadership style is characterized by respect for all and a belief in meritocracy, valuing diverse ideas. He candidly shares how he manages pressure, both as a CEO and in his personal life, highlighting the importance of having a support system. Mr. Ray also shares personal anecdotes, including his recent purchases and gardening hobby, and his experience with Lazada's return system.
🎁 Conclusion and Special Gift
The interview concludes with a special gift exchange. The host presents Mr. Ray with a collection of his favorite juices and a print of a painting by a renowned children's book author, reflecting the show's appreciation for his insights. The host, Edu, extends gratitude to Mr. Ray and Globe Business for the opportunity and invites viewers to tune in for future episodes featuring inspiring industry leaders.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡E-commerce
💡Lazada
💡Leadership
💡Innovation
💡Digital Strategy
💡Trust
💡COVID-19
💡Entrepreneurship
💡Technology
💡Experimentation
💡Meritocracy
Highlights
Introduction to Clockwork, a platform for conversations with top Philippine industry leaders.
Interview with Mr. Ray, the man behind one of the Philippines' top shopping apps.
Mr. Ray discusses the convenience of online shopping and its impact on buying behavior.
Importance of setting a clear, simple, and consistent strategic vision for a CEO.
Mr. Ray's morning routine and preference for coffee over tea.
Challenges faced in building Lazada and the simultaneous development of e-commerce, logistics, and payments industries.
E-commerce in the Philippines is still less than five percent of retail, indicating significant growth potential.
Mr. Ray's initial career aspiration to be a medical doctor and his transition into e-commerce.
Influence of Mr. Ray's grandfather, a heart doctor, on his desire to help people.
Mr. Ray's vision to use the internet to impact Filipinos on a national scale.
Lazada's evolution from a retailer to a marketplace to scale and meet consumer needs.
Lazada's goal to become the most relevant and trusted e-commerce platform in the field.
Lazada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding product assortment and launching essential services.
Technology's core role in enabling sellers to manage their businesses online through Lazada.
Addressing trust concerns in cash on delivery payments and the push for digital payments.
Advice for big companies and brands to have a digital strategy and invest in e-commerce.
Mr. Ray's leadership style emphasizing respect, meritocracy, and the importance of sharing ideas.
How Lazada is willing to experiment and learn from failures to improve.
Mr. Ray's personal experiences with online shopping, including product recommendations and returns.
Conclusion of the interview with a special gift for Mr. Ray and a look forward to future episodes.
Transcripts
[Music]
hi everyone
i'm glad you're here to join in our
conversations with the philippines top
industry leaders
it's time to pick their brilliant minds
and see what makes them tick
get ready to take down some notes as we
talk about business life and everything
in between this is clockwork
[Music]
today we'll meet the man behind one of
the philippines top
shopping apps the person who helps make
adding to cart easy for you and me but
it makes a sometimes question our very
own judgments why
why did i add to cart
when would i ever use this what was i
thinking we'll find out more ladies and
gentlemen welcome mr ray
[Music]
thank you edu good morning and good
morning to everyone watching today
thank you very much for joining us okay
if you don't mind let's dive straight
into it i mean as the head of the
biggest e-commerce platform in the
philippines do you do a lot of online
shopping yourself and if you do
what do you normally buy yes i uh
definitely i eat i eat my own dog food
and a lot of my online shopping happens
on lasalle i am now becoming
pretty much an expert on floor cleaners
disinfectants
i buy a lot of groceries online as well
as personal care it's just so convenient
that it's completely changed my buying
behavior
well first question and already we have
so much in common
good to hear i hope i hope that a lot of
your shopping is also in lasagna oh
definitely with a capital l
but i have to ask you though in your
line of business i mean what is the most
important trait as a ceo that you must
possess to baby say better lead your
team to success yeah i'd like to think
that there are
different leaders and different styles
and i can i believe i can only talk
about what works for me for me i really
believe that a ceo or a leader must be
able to set a very clear
simple and consistent strategic
long-term vision
it's a marathon not a sprint okay thank
you that's from a business standpoint
but i guess people will also be curious
to find out
more about you from a personal
standpoint so these are some very
thought-provoking questions i'll have to
begin
what's the first thing you do in the
morning
first thing i do is check my schedule
i have an assistant who helps me manage
my day my week actually my life i try to
book meetings in 30 minute increments uh
and you know i ideally maximum 45 if you
force a little bit more focus in your
day you actually get a lot more than you
realize
are you a coffee or tea kind of guy
definitely coffee business casual attire
well you know in a tech startup
definitely it's casual i also promised
myself after one internship where i was
wearing a suit i would never take
another job or had to wear a neck bag
[Music]
what was the biggest challenge you faced
on your way to becoming a uh
a leader in the e-commerce industry
you know i would say that the biggest
challenge i faced was that i realized in
building lazada we were not just
building a company we realized that we
were building
several industries at the same time
i'm talking about e-commerce
logistics payments it was actually
impossible to build only e-commerce uh
let me contrast this with the us where
people have been entering their credit
cards
on paper
uh
in catalogs they've been doing that for
years before e-commerce started and in
the philippines the logistics industry
was basically in its infancy the ability
to receive payment uh prepayment or
digital payment was also very very
limited well mr murong you spoke about
infancy you know now uh how many years
down the road you just celebrated your
uh ninth birthday uh the company so to
speak
but
after nine years can you still say that
uh the whole concept is still in its
infancy and there's so much more to look
forward to you know e-commerce is still
less than five percent of retail in the
philippines
you know we're still at a stage where
people
tell people tell their friends and
families about their purchases online
when we get to a point where it's no
longer news when no one is talking about
it and we know it's ubiquitous
when you first went to school
what did you want to be ever since i was
a child i've only wanted to do two
things
i wanted to help people and create
and many people don't know that i
actually
started my
my career as a medical doctor
because i wanted to help people and
there's a story to that and if you if
you you don't mind i'd like to share it
please
um you know
my grandfather was a heart doctor and he
was one of the pioneers of philippine
medicine he was one of the co-founders
of mccarthy medical center
and he i really idolized him and my
desire to help people was actually see
that by him
and i can still remember stories where
he would offer his services for free to
patients on weekends
so i trained for five years at pgh the
largest charity hospital
and i can still remember being
frustrated by the sheer poverty and i
felt that no matter how many people we
helped tomorrow would look just like
today
and that we were really running in place
but you know the world was changing the
year was 1999 and there was this
groundbreaking technology developing
around us called the internet and i
became captivated with its possibilities
and potential that it could one day
capitalize development in philippines in
in a much broader way rather than
helping one patient at a time that you
get to do as a clinician i saw an
opportunity to impact filipinos on a
national scheme
and so i quit medicine
and i went back to school i went to
business school in silicon valley spent
four years in amazon because i wanted to
learn about this thing called e-commerce
and i got that chance in 2012 when i
received a call from an e-commerce
startup in the philippines called
lazada you know i have to ask you this
in my family my father always said i
want one to be a doctor exactly i want
to be a lawyer
and want to be a priest or a soldier are
you sure we're not from the same family
because that sounds exactly like a
conversation i would hear over the
dinner table oh yeah that's exactly how
you know i'm sorry to say i'm
disappointed by that in a couple but uh
that's why my question to you is how did
your family are we talking about a
doctor benjamin aliburong
yes that's my uncle
okay yeah yeah you know
my father is a lawyer so there you go
the doctor and the lawyer no we're not
talking about vic
yes
oh really get out of here okay no i know
they're both
okay small world no but how did your
family feel about your change of heart
that was a very interesting conversation
but he when when i left medicine i was
so sure
that there really was no more discussion
and at that point you know i the i think
everyone was thinking hey you know what
let him do what he wants anyway he can
always go back to being a doctor no no
that's really really interesting uh you
know because normally like i feel it
today filipino culture the first scene
is the mother shouting to the neighbors
you know it's a really big deal
when you first took the wheel of uh
lazada what did you uh want to change if
there was any and what goals did you set
and how did you
strategize towards that end you know
lazada has
went through a lot of changes
as you may know we were founded by a
german incubator called rocket internet
in 2012 and then in 2016 there was an
acquisition with by alibaba today i want
to move
lazada towards
uh being the most relevant and trusted
platform e-commerce platform in the
field
uh what we're trying to do now is enable
all the sellers that want to sell on
lazada to be able to onboard
and then of course when you come on the
platform it should be easy to find what
you're looking for right
this is partly our search algorithm
which creates personalization such that
both search and discovery are tailored
to the customer
you put forth these goals
you created the mindset for the company
but then again here comes kobe 19. here
comes the pandemic
nobody ever imagined it would happen how
did you pivot the company now to be able
to become and stay relevant during these
times during kobe the priorities for
lazada did not really change
the mission of lazada it's to accelerate
progress in southeast asia and how do we
accelerate progress we do it by
empowering filipino consumers to find
what they're looking for online but also
to empower
businesses
msnes and brands to go online and grow
online for instance for the consumers we
expanded our product assortment
during kobe to cater to their needs we
continue to give them their essentials
for online grocery called last march to
enable consumers to buy fresh and frozen
foods like meat fish vegetables even ice
cream we launched lazada med to enable
consumers to buy non-prescription
medicines like vitamins supplements and
other health essentials in many ways
you're creating an inclusive economy you
know now that's going to have to
parallel with the development of
technology uh how much of
other resources are you throwing back
into the development
and expansion of technology actually
technology is at the core of what we do
at lazada the ability of sellers to
manage their business online
is something completely powered by
technology today the seller can go
and actually sign up on their own upload
documents do this all probably within 10
minutes 5 to 10 minutes they can do this
at midnight without talking to a human
being again i
wasn't kidding when i say i do a lot of
shopping now but i've always been using
the
cash flow delivery
because there's still that fear in me
that sometimes there might be a breach
and my privacy data
might end up falling in the wrong hands
how are you addressing that because i
still notice a lot of my friends too are
doing a lot of the cash on delivery yeah
i actually
do this charge because we are the ones
who started cash on delivery okay
and the reason for that is because cash
and delivery did address the initially
early years trust concerns of filipinos
and then from the perspective of lazada
cash cash is actually expensive more
expensive than digital payments the main
reason is that a cash on delivery order
tends to fail
15 times more frequently than a non-cod
order and it fails because the customer
you know doesn't have the cash on hand
or change their mind right
to build trust it's more than just
payments for us trust is wider than that
number one
we need to have very good seller and
product ratings and reviews that should
be very visible to the customer today
it's there we want to improve how easy
it is to understand it and make it more
visible okay so you just you just
slapped me in the hand and told me stop
doing cash on digitally okay
if you don't mind sharing your
projections for business in general not
just uh msmes but for even the bigger
companies what i would say to big
companies big brands
is you need to have a digital strategy
a larger and larger share of media
consumption of the average filipino has
moved online so you need to be where the
consumer is right i'd like to emphasize
that e-commerce is a business model it's
not an additional sales channel
correct there is an opportunity to
engage customers with
high-touch real-time activities online
you need to invest maybe on high traffic
channels like facebook and google but
also there are opportunities to invest
in lasada itself and then of course
important to invest in store management
and operations you know if you were to
open a store in the mall you would get a
store manager would you not so then why
is it that on lazada you are trying to
do it one tenth of your time as the
owner why don't you get a store manager
right so this is kind of the message the
business you need to invest
thank you very much very informative but
i have to ask you i'm sure you've had
your own little missteps along the way
of course like with any other
big business uh trying to do trying to
make a huge impact definitely we've had
those missteps
and
you know
i do let me show you how we think about
it lasagna
as a company the sata is very willing to
do experiments
and you know if it doesn't work out
we'll
reverse it
right
and then another thing is that um this
experimenting is what allowed us to
build the lozada
i remember lazada started out as a
retailer
right everything we sold was in our
warehouse whether we owned it or read
the outright retail purchase or
consignment
right but we knew that we couldn't scale
and address the needs of all the
consumers and all the msmes if we were
confined to retail we had to build the
marketplace and that was also another
experiment now of course there are
experiments that didn't go so well
i'm reminded of what a quote from thomas
edison where he said i have not failed
i've just found 10 000 ways that that
don't work
well you know speaking about thomas
edison this shines a light on your
leadership style you have to be able to
establish that sense of trust
you know for them to be able to think
independently i think one of the
foundations of my leadership is that i
treat people everyone with respect
right
obviously
sometimes there's a belief that it's
easier to get something done or to get
results if you yell at people you do an
emotional outburst
but actually what what that does is if
you really destroy the morale of the
employee maybe they go start fixing
their linkedin profile
i believe in a meritocractic form of
leadership right i truly believe that
the ceo and senior management do not
have a monopoly on good ideas
right and the only way we're going to
hear everyone else's ideas is to
cultivate an environment which they are
willing to share
okay you have to learn how to deal with
pressure you know i happen to know your
wife also deals with a lot of pressure
okay so i mean from the office
undoubtedly you have your pressures when
you get home of course it's either it's
not yours your wife would have to share
so how do you deal with pressure
it's interesting you bring up my wife
because
um
some say that i we have probably one of
the most stressful households in metro
manila
my point
with you know uh with her running the
largest city in the philippines and me
learning
a very commerce platform
when you talk about pressure
it's lonely being ceo
it's lonely being the leader you know i
bring up the concept of trade-offs
it's impossible to make everyone happy
right that's why it's very lonely you
make one guy happy the other guy is
angry right and i really believe that i
need to have a pressure release valve
that release valve is everyone around me
i need to release that pressure to my
team
not saying i need to pass the work i
need to share my vision and the
challenges that i face so that people
know where we want to go
and can collaborate in getting us there
during this uh these challenging times
you know
people have been left with a lot of
time to uh
shop around myself included i found this
a handheld vacuum cleaner with
ultraviolet sterilization i mean i
thought it was fantastic and i have a
small little farm in batangas where of
course i become a with somewhat of a a
gardener and i hope you don't mind but i
wasn't lying to you can i show you sure
sure
look at it
wow that is a very nice
gadget great great design very effective
it's got the three meter cord i'm sorry
like the spokesperson or the endorser
but i'm not
and then uh i told you i've been doing a
little bit of gardening you know so the
uh the sellers of those are watching
because they might suddenly see a spike
in their sales because of your uh your
testimonial excellent well you know
these are products that you know they're
actually working for me and coming in
really handy but i even bought things
like
this little life gear glow sticks
middle of the night you hear a noise you
go out
glow sticks work so you know it's been
uh terribly interesting
what what would you think was your the
best thing that you purchased
i think uh one of the best purchases
ever made on lazada is
electric scooter okay yeah so similar to
your
your vacuum
i have a question has anything ever been
delivered to you and you're disappointed
so yes i actually have been a user of
our online return system and i'm
actually
i'm very happy with it it's pretty
efficient and not because you're ray
alimoron no definitely not
the challenges that consumers have on
lazada when they need to return
something is that they actually don't
file a return they go to social media
or maybe start bugging the seller and i
tell them have you tried to file a
return oh okay uh wait you know what let
me try that and when they do they
realize it's actually pretty easy
um you know i at this point i've taken a
lot of your time and uh i would like to
say thank you very much for spending
time with us you know as a token of our
gratitude we prepared a uh
a special gift for you
actually literally
okay well that's it
yeah i did the ribbon myself oh my god
we know you like juices
you know you seem to be a very very
healthy guy
oh this is these are actually my
favorite
are you serious yes
okay
but if you look
underneath the juices we have another
special gift
found out that you're a boy racist
reader
so we got you a print of a painting by
award-winning children's book author
and artist korra dandan albano
and it's called
manga
thank you very much thank you to
thank you edu and also the globe
business for this
yeah yeah no thank you very much you
know it was great having you on board
and i'm sure that you've uh helped
educate
inspire
a lot of filipinos uh out there you know
those who maybe have had earlier
reluctancies about becoming
entrepreneurs or engaging in msmes
you've shown them that uh
you know there's a bigger world out
there and you build a greater picture of
what they can look forward to so mr ray
alibirong ceo lazada philippines
thank you very very much thank you very
much eddie it was a pleasure
and thank you also to globe business
club for this opportunity
well that's the end of our shift but
tune in again next time as we put the
spotlight on another inspiring industry
leader
who knows our next guest may just be the
inspiration you need to soar even higher
so be sure to watch out for our next
episodes dropping every month on youtube
and on spotify the clock is always
ticking and every second counts i'm edu
bansado
and this is clockwork
[Music]
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