Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Cebu are now slowly invading the online shopping space to reach wider markets.
A business leader is encouraging more SMEs to follow the digital move of big Cebuano brands that have become successful in meeting the shopping needs of online shoppers.
Rey Calooy, president of Filipino-Cebuano Business Club Inc., said that in today’s digital age, it isn’t enough for products to be present in physical stores. Entrepreneurs, he said, must spread their wings, which means tapping the digital platform when marketing their products.
“As the competition increases, we need to find ways to reach out immediately to our buyers, and being present online is one of the wise moves. There’s a big market out there,” said Calooy.
Calooy, the founder and president of RNC Marketing, is making some of his products soon to be available in shopping sites like Lazada and Arka.ph.
Specifically, he will be selling the Golden Stick noodles of different vegetable varieties online. Calooy is confident of attracting buyers online, given the shopping sites’ friendly digital platform.
“Getting online is already a trend now. A report says 67 million Filipinos go online, and this is already a big market for an entrepreneur to tap,” said Calooy.
Shopping site Lazada Philippines is said to dominate the e-commerce competition in the Philippines, with approximately 35 million visits per month, according to a report on the competition of eCommerce marketplaces in the Philippines in the second quarter of 2018, released by the iPrice Group, a one-stop shop e-commerce aggregator in Southeast and East Asia.
The report said the bulk of the accumulated visits that Lazada made was from Facebook, with 25.2 million visits; followed by 259,563 from Instagram; and 54,632 from Twitter.
Calooy said there’s a big advantage for an SME to boost its sales by going online because of its worldwide market, although he also stressed the need for entrepreneurs not to leave offline marketing.
“Both ways could help you drive your business. You need to make noise for both,” said Calooy, admitting that selling products online is much cheaper than renting a space in malls, which have a limited shopping time.
“Online sites, on the other hand, work 24 by seven. They also take care of other elements in business like logistics. So for the part of the seller, you would just need to boost the marketing and wait for orders,” said Calooy.
For Calooy, getting in the online space is part of his company’s big push to adopt innovation.
“Innovation is the introduction of a new idea. What others do not tell you is how innovation becomes the backbone of a company, and how crucial it is to embrace innovation to strive and compete among others in the business world. Innovation is necessary in business,” said Calooy.
Online shopping sites and online sellers are bracing for another big online shopping day, 12.12 (Dec.12), similar to Singles’ Day, 11.11 (Nov. 11), which is now associated with a global shopping festival.
The Singles’ Day in China has become the largest offline and online shopping day in the world, with Alibaba setting a new Singles’ Day record of more than $30.8 billion in sales in 24 hours this year.
In the local scene, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Cebu is working closely with digital experts to bring Cebuano SMEs to the digital platform.
Through its e-commerce program, the agency has produced three batches with 56 graduates.
The e-commerce participants underwent 12 sessions conducted in over a six-week period. The module includes the creation of a website and social media pages for their respective businesses.
DTI’s e-commerce and digital marketing mentoring program aims to usher in a new breed of businesses that will thrive in the innovation and digital economy, and create an enabling environment that supports the growth of the number of SMEs doing digital marketing.
DTI 7 Assistant Director Ma. Elena Arbon believes capacitating MSMES with e-commerce technology and tools would make them competitive. / KOC