Daraz brings industry together for The Great Online Shopping Mela - A shopathon like no other

Daraz.pk, Pakistan’s largest online marketplace, is proud to present The Great Online Shopping Mela (GOSM). GOSM is about bringing people, technology and shopping together in one exciting, multi-layered event! Par the course for the ecommerce leader, Daraz is not only assembling exciting deals, flash sales and discounts up to 67% for GOSM, it’s going all the way in integrating the event in partnership with GroupM.

The Great Online Shopping Mela will break new ground in digital advertising and ecommerce and is expected to generate significant buzz both online with great surprises expected from event sponsors the likes of Unilever, Nestle, L'oreal, Pepsi, Chevron, WB Hemani and more. Joining the event is also an ensemble of digital partners including Careem, Foodpanda, PakWheels, Jovago, Pink Paxi, Find My Doctor and Pizza Hut.

In the words of Daraz Managing Director Zain Suharwardy, “It’s 2017 and we can no longer speak of the lives we lead online as separate from our offline reality. The two are increasingly married to the other. And that’s the theme of The Great Online Shopping Mela: celebrating the various ways online shopping and internet culture bring joy, convenience and connection to our lives. It’s about recognizing the role ecommerce plays in spreading joy in a spontaneous way. We will work with partners across the ecosystem, from financial services, media, telecoms, top brands, fashion and apps to maximize e-commerce impact.”

Daraz collaboration with digital marketing leader GroupM is an especially attractive prospect for advertisers and concerned stakeholders.

Chief Marketing Officer Daraz, Hamaad Ravda commented saying, “The Great Online Shopping Mela will break new ground in getting top brands even further invested in ecommerce and digital marketing including Facebook and Google advertising solutions.  Against the backdrop of rising internet penetration and teledensity, the importance of digital in the media mix today is inestimable and GOSM provides an opportunity for top brands to test out and scale their efforts in e-commerce.”

Why this is a mela you don’t want to miss

Daraz.pk has a tried, tested and and proven track record when it comes to delivering large scale events that galvanize its large consumer base en masse. Events like Black Friday, Mobile Week and the Independence Day Sale average millions of sessions and deliver incredible sales multiples for sellers.

According to a report published in April this year, every minute, 26 Pakistanis access the internet for the first time. By 2020, over 65 million will have 3G and 4G/LTE on their phones. An estimated 89% of the Pakistani population will be mobile subscribers by 2020. With 60% of the population below the age of 30, the future of e-commerce is in young, energetic hands, eager to ride the crest of digitization. The past two years alone have seen ecommerce grow 300% per year. Young blood is coursing through the fibre optic veins of Pakistan.

GOSM is one part a celebration of these new, exciting realities and two parts an attempt to accelerate these developments further.

“Ecommerce connectivity has real-world impact. With GOSM, we aspire to let Pakistan know: Daraz thinks in three dimensions. Fans can look forward to a series of activities bringing the online and offline worlds together at this mela. Daraz understands that any division between the two is arbitrary. We’re not just a virtual portal; we’re virtureal. If you want to find out exactly what we mean by this, meet us at the mela,” adds Suharwardy.

A 7-day shopathon, bringing amazing discounts on different product categories each day

The Great Online Shopping Mela will be a 7-day online sale event with each day dedicated to a particular product category. All days of the GOSM will see mega deal discounts & flash sales going live for the category concerned. Payment partner discounts will be applicable site-wide throughout the event. Mobile Wallets including Jazzcash and Easypay, championed by growing numbers of Daraz shoppers for the financial convenience and access they provide to the unbanked, are also onboard the GOSM dream team.

Daraz doesn’t want to lift the lid off everything it has in store for GOSM. Not just yet. But what is certain is that fans can look forward to a holistic shopping ‘mela’ that really gathers the most exciting digital, brand and app partners under one roof for a range of exciting activations and events.

What’s on the menu? Music, masti, fans’ manpasand brands and so much more! Sign up for the newletter now and download the Daraz app.