Online traders recognize m-commerce emergence

CEBU, Philippines - Even before the electronic commerce (e-commerce) channel could fully take off in the Philippines, players are now moving at entering into another level in the internet-based trading called the mobile commerce or m-commerce.

Zalora Philippines co-founder and managing director Paulo Campos III said that Filipino online traders have already recognized the potential of the m-commerce to complement the growing interest of Filipinos using the Internet for shopping.

Zalora Philippines is one of the country’s largest online fashion companies.

Although majority or 95 percent of Filipino credit card users are afraid to give out their card information online, Campos attributed Cebu Pacific’s opening of online ticketing portal as the gateway to establish trust in the Internet trading among Filipinos.

“People should begin to trust online as an alternative shopping portal, specifically for fashion,” said Zalora, encouraging Cebuano retailers to take advantage of the e-commerce and now the entry of the m-commerce.

While more and more Filipinos have access to mobile Internet and affordable mobile gadgets that can connect to wi-fi networks, along with telecommunications providers offering cheaper “internet access” for both prepaid and postpaid users, m-commerce is expected to take a leap in the Philippine market very soon.

For this reason, Zalora has already developed an application via Android for users to access Zalora’s over 25 thousand product inventories available for consumers regardless of locations.  

Unlike in the past where online shopping can only be availed of by those that have credit cards, this time Zalora and other Filipino-based online retailers have offered cash-on-delivery options in partnership with logistic companies like LBC, 2Go, among others.

In the Philippines, there are at least 35 million who have access to Internet everyday, 32 million of whom have Facebook accounts while 12 million Filipinos with access to Facebook spend an average of 50 minutes a day.

Zalora has been slowly able to connect the wide gap between the high usage of Internet among Filipinos and its adoption to online shopping.

Easy, convenience, and fast delivery, with wider options of products available are just few of Zalora’s strategies to initially promote e-commerce in the Philippines.

Although online trading portal is not new in the world’s retail industry, with the remarkable success of Amazon.com, e-Bay, and other thousands of specialized e-commerce retailers around the world, the Filipino consumers, however, still have to totally embrace this new dimension of retailing.

Campos was one of the speakers during the recently concluded 7th Regional Retail Conference organized by Philippine Retailers Association (PRA-Cebu).

Campos started the Zalora online shopping portal 18 months ago, with only two thousand products inventory available online.

Today, its warehouse has over 25 thousand products and has already serviced over a million deliveries.

The company, he said, aims to become the premier fashion portal in Southeast Asia. /JMD (FREEMAN)