Friday, March 16, 2007
Traders ‘not keen’ to go online
WHILE Cebu’s retail industry can capitalize on online trading as a means to increase revenues, majority of local retailers are not too keen to venture into it just yet, a Cebuano retailer said.
“Doing something online can be convenient but it will take awhile before retailers will look into online trading,” Robert Go, Prince Warehouse Club Inc. president, said.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007
Because 90 percent of Cebu’s consumers belong to the C, D, and E markets, access to computers are limited, and cost of deliveries tend to be expensive.
This is why, Go said, only a few retailers have taken advantage of online trading.
“Those in the high-end or the A and B markets are able to buy online,” he added.
According to Go, prices of commodities in Cebu are relatively cheaper compared to foreign countries, which make the buying and selling of goods on the Internet “not a necessity.”
In addition, since Cebu’s supermarkets and department stores are closely situated, customers are able to move from one location to another only within minutes.
Go, however, acknowledged that online trading is possible in “not too competitive items” such as fashion, housewares, furniture, and decorative items.
For those involving food items, however, online trading can be a disadvantage since the market is highly competitive.
“Only a few deliver in bulk because the margin is small,” Go said in an interview.
He added that while some food retailers have posted advertisements on the Internet, it was mainly to aggressively promote their products, and not necessarily sell them.
Go cited www.cebushopping.com as a website where locals have started to break into Internet buying.
Go spoke during the Entrepreneur Cebu Business Summit Series, which tackled “The Long Tail: How the Web Changes Retail” held last Wednesday at the Formo bar and restaurant at the Banilad Town Center.
He said other popular trading websites that Filipinos have visited include www.ebay.ph and www.amazon.com.
According to eBay’s website, eBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages ebay.com, an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. eBay Inc. also owns PayPal, Skype and other businesses.
On the other hand, Amazon.com Inc. is an American electronic commerce company based in Seattle, Washington.
It was one of the first major companies to sell goods over the Internet and was one of the iconic stocks of the late 1990s dot-com bubble.
Founded as Cadabra.com by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and launched in 1995, Amazon.com began as an online bookstore, though it soon diversified its product lines, adding DVDs, music CDs, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys and more.
Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China, and Japan and it ships globally on selected products. (MMM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 16, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
