JWT Pakistan and EPOS, a division of Pakistani fashion retailer Labels, have signed an agreement establishing an e-commerce shopping portal named easestore.com.
This partnership marks the first time an advertising agency has gone into e-commerce in Pakistan, and marks the emergence of JWT as a major player in the digital space.
EPOS’s parent company, Labels, is one of the larger players in the domestic e-commerce industry, and JWT Pakistan has a client base that covers almost every consumer goods category. JWT clients will be offered priority access to easestore.com as a preferred online retail channel.
More than 29 million people in Pakistan now access the Internet, which represents about 15% of the population. While Internet penetration starting to take off, the country’s e-commerce sector is still in its infancy, giving easestore.com an early mover advantage. The partnership agreement was signed last week by Labels CEO Zahir Rahimtoola and JWT Pakistan CEO Mansoor Karim Shaikh.
JWT Pakistan has been investing heavily in digital assets over the last year. The company set up JWT Fusion, a digital marketing unit, in the last quarter of 2012. That unit will spearhead digital strategies and execution for the e-commerce venture, easestore.com, within JWT. JWT also took a stake in Converge Technologies, Pakistan’s leading digital advertising company, in March 2012.
“We believe 2013 is the year for digital in Pakistan, and JWT is poised to bring our clients a full range of digital services from branding to e-commerce,” said Karim.