How to build a website like Daraz

Daraz has transformed the e-commerce landscape across South Asia, becoming a dominant force in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Myanmar. Its meteoric success stems from an intimate understanding of regional consumer behavior and market needs. The platform has masterfully addressed key challenges unique to emerging markets, including limited payment options, logistics hurdles, and varying levels of digital literacy. By 2025, Daraz aims to position itself as the "Digital Silk Road" of South Asia, connecting 500 million potential consumers across the region. This vision has driven the company to record consistent 100% year-on-year growth, with sales projections exceeding $1 billion annually. What sets Daraz apart is its holistic approach to e-commerce. Beyond merely selling products, the company has built an entire ecosystem encompassing logistics (Daraz Express), payment solutions, and seller education programs. Their strong mobile-first strategy has proven particularly effective in markets where smartphones serve as the primary internet access point for most users. Additionally, Daraz has pioneered an innovative offline-to-online strategy through "Daraz Store" concepts—physical locations that help build trust in regions where e-commerce adoption faces skepticism. The acquisition by Alibaba Group in 2018 marked a turning point, providing Daraz with advanced technology infrastructure and global expertise. This partnership has enabled the implementation of sophisticated features like AI-powered recommendation engines and streamlined logistics operations through smart distribution centers. Most importantly, Daraz has successfully created a thriving community of over 100,000 active small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with plans to expand to 300,000 sellers, generating approximately one million jobs across the region.

For buyers, Daraz offers a comprehensive one-stop shopping destination for consumers across South Asia. The platform features an intuitive, mobile-optimized interface that caters to various levels of digital literacy. Shoppers can browse millions of products across dozens of categories, from electronics and fashion to groceries and home essentials. The search experience is enhanced with AI-powered recommendations that analyze browsing and purchase history to suggest relevant items. Buyers benefit from detailed product information, high-quality images, and genuine customer reviews to make informed decisions. The platform supports multiple regional languages and offers various payment options including cash-on-delivery—crucial for markets with low credit card penetration. Buyer protection features like money-back guarantees, easy returns, and secure transaction processing have helped build trust in regions where online shopping skepticism remains high. Daraz's mobile app, the primary shopping channel for most users, offers additional engagement features like "Daraz Candy" (in-app games) and livestream shopping events that blend entertainment with commerce—a feature that market research showed is particularly valued by South Asian consumers over pure convenience.

For sellers, Daraz provides entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes with a powerful digital storefront reaching millions of potential customers. The seller onboarding process has been streamlined with simplified registration that requires basic documentation like identification and banking details. Once approved, sellers gain access to Daraz Seller Center—a comprehensive dashboard for managing their online business. The platform equips merchants with robust analytics tools showing real-time sales data, customer behavior insights, and inventory performance metrics. These insights help sellers optimize pricing, improve product listings, and identify market trends. Daraz's marketing ecosystem includes options for sponsored listings, participation in flash sales, and promotional campaigns like the massive "11.11" shopping event that generates significant visibility and sales spikes. Daraz University offers training programs to help sellers optimize their operations, while the platform's logistics network handles fulfillment challenges—particularly valuable in regions with underdeveloped delivery infrastructure. Payment processing is managed securely with funds transferred directly to sellers' accounts. For 2025, Daraz has implemented enhanced cross-border selling capabilities, allowing merchants to reach customers across all five countries where the platform operates—effectively turning local businesses into regional exporters through its "Digital Silk Road" initiative.

Daraz, operating as a leading online marketplace in South Asia, has carved out a niche by connecting a vast network of sellers with millions of customers across the region. Its business model is centered around providing a platform where sellers can list a wide range of products, from electronics to fashion and beyond, making it accessible for customers to find and purchase these items with ease. Daraz earns revenue through various streams, including listing fees, commissions on sales, and offering premium services to sellers for increased visibility. Additionally, it has expanded its ecosystem to include logistics solutions, payment services, and financial services, further enhancing the shopping experience for customers and supporting sellers in growing their businesses. This holistic approach not only drives consumer engagement but also fosters a thriving community of sellers, contributing to Daraz's position as a key player in the e-commerce sector.

Daraz, a leading online marketplace in South Asia, generates revenue through a multifaceted business model. Primarily, it earns by charging sellers a commission on each sale made through its platform, with the commission rate varying depending on the category of the product sold. Additionally, Daraz capitalizes on its vast user base and high website traffic by offering various advertising opportunities to sellers, including banner ads, sponsored product listings, and shop-in-shop features, allowing sellers to enhance their visibility and sales potential. The platform also offers value-added services, such as logistics and payment solutions, for which it charges fees, further diversifying its revenue streams. By integrating these approaches, Daraz successfully monetizes its platform while fostering a dynamic online retail ecosystem.

The most important functionality of a marketplace like Daraz is to seamlessly connect buyers and sellers in a digital environment. This involves providing a user-friendly platform where sellers can list their products and buyers can easily search, compare, and purchase these products. Key functionalities supporting this core objective include secure payment processing, efficient search and filtering mechanisms, reliable customer service and dispute resolution systems, and logistics or shipping integration for order fulfillment. These elements work together to ensure a smooth, trustworthy shopping experience for users and a robust sales channel for sellers.

Developing a marketplace similar to Daraz from scratch involves various factors including design, development, security, and scalability. The cost can range significantly based on the complexity, features, and the development team's location. For a basic version, you might spend anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000, while a more advanced platform with custom features could exceed $100,000. This estimate includes essential components like user interface design, backend development, product management, payment integration, security measures, and initial marketing efforts. Costs can also vary with the choice of technology stack and whether you opt for in-house development or outsource to a specialized agency.

Identify unique selling propositions (USPs) not offered by Daraz. Conduct market research to understand customer needs and preferences. Offer a wider range of products, including niche and locally sourced items. Implement an easy-to-use, intuitive website and mobile app interface. Ensure competitive pricing and offer regular discounts and promotions. Adopt advanced technology for personalized shopping experiences. Develop a robust logistics and delivery system for faster and reliable service. Invest in customer service excellence to handle queries and complaints efficiently. Create an engaging loyalty program to retain customers. Leverage social media and influencer partnerships for marketing. Secure partnerships with reputable sellers and brands. Offer flexible payment options, including cash on delivery, mobile payments, and EMI. Implement strong security measures to protect user data and transactions. Gather and act on customer feedback for continuous improvement. Focus on sustainable and eco-friendly practices to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. Expand services to include value-added services like product insurance. Regularly update inventory based on trending products and seasonal demands. Organize and sponsor events to increase brand visibility and engagement.

1. Amazon is a global leader in the e-commerce sector, offering a vastly wider range of products compared to Daraz, which focuses more on South Asian markets. Amazon's technological infrastructure and customer service are highly advanced, providing a more seamless shopping experience. However, Daraz has a better understanding of local preferences and offers products more tailored to the South Asian consumer base.

2. Alibaba operates on a larger scale and has a more extensive product catalog than Daraz, tapping into a global network of manufacturers and suppliers, especially from China. While Daraz focuses on retail consumers in South Asia, Alibaba's strength lies in wholesale trade across the world, including B2B, B2C, and C2C platforms. Alibaba's ecosystem offers more in terms of logistics and payment solutions, catering to a broader audience.

3. Flipkart is a major player in the Indian e-commerce market, directly competing with Daraz in the South Asian region. It offers a similar range of products but has a greater focus on electronics and fashion, with strong backing from Walmart, enhancing its supply chain and logistics. Flipkart's big sale events and exclusive partnerships with brands give it a competitive edge over Daraz in India.

4. eBay provides a unique auction platform that distinguishes it from Daraz, allowing users to sell and buy used or new items across various categories. It has a more established global presence, offering international shipping options for a wider selection of products. However, Daraz offers a more localized shopping experience with services tailored to the South Asian market, such as cash on delivery.

5. Snapdeal, another Indian e-commerce company, competes with Daraz by offering diverse product categories with a significant focus on value-for-money and budget shopping. While Daraz has expanded its footprint across several South Asian countries, Snapdeal concentrates on penetrating deeper into the Indian market with aggressive pricing and marketing strategies. Snapdeal's commitment to small and medium-sized businesses in India helps it maintain a unique position, though Daraz's broader geographical reach gives it an advantage in other regions.

Creating a Daraz-style online marketplace from scratch is a big, costly undertaking. But today, there are many different ways to build a marketplace that don't require a huge budget.

The option you should choose depends on:

• The features you think your marketplace needs
• Your technical expertise (or skills you have in your team)
• Your budget
• The available time.

The different ways to build a marketplace are:

• Using WordPress and plugins
• Building on top of open-source software
• Using a combination of no-code tools
• Using a dedicated no-code marketplace SaaS tool
• Developing on top of an API-based marketplace SaaS tool

In addition to your limitations in terms of skills and budget, you should also think about the speed of learning. Launching your Daraz-style platform fast means you start to learn about your audience quickly. These insights help you develop the kind of platform that users love more than any other existing solution.

Sharetribe's marketplace software is developed with this iterative learning process in mind.

With Sharetribe, you can build your first version of a marketplace like Daraz in a matter of days without any coding. Of course, a lot depends on which features you'd like to include from the beginning. You have a 14-day free trial, so you can also take a bit more time. After that, you can subscribe to one of our plans to either continue building or launch your marketplace and go live.

After you've launched, you get to learn what kinds of additional features and functionality your platform needs to serve your audience. You may want to change the design and workflow completely, integrate a bunch of third-party services, or build a mobile app. With Sharetribe, you can easily custom-code all these changes and a lot more, either by yourself or with help from our Expert partners.

At Sharetribe, we've been building marketplaces for over a decade. Our experience and expertise are at your disposal through our content resources, which you can access and use regardless of how you decide to build your platform.

Best of luck with your Daraz-style business!

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