A NESPRESSO machine for half its regular price, a 20000mAH power bank at 80 percent off and branded fashion items at close to 90 percent off each. These were among our finds during Pinoy Black Friday, the country’s online equivalent to the Black Friday shopping madness in the US.
Philippine online retailers banded together to mount the Pinoy Cyber Sale from Nov. 27 to 30, timed with the annual Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US as a way to increase awareness about e-commerce among Filipinos.
Among the shops that participated in the first staging of the Pinoy Cyber Sale were top sites Lazada, Zalora, Foodpanda, Takatack, and Ensogo.
In our case, we stayed with longtime favorite Lazada. The discounts were indeed substantial. The Nespresso machine, for example, was sold at half the price and we managed to order one of the last two units. It came five days after we placed the order—brand new and exactly as we purchased it, with three boxes of coffee capsules that went with the unit.
And just like that, we were able to finish some Christmas purchases in the comfort of our home and without having to endure the terrible Cebu traffic to go to a physical store and deal with the crowd and long lines to pay for items at the cashier.
The offerings were varied and the discounts substantial although it seemed some merchants jacked up their prices so that the discounts appeared much more substantial.
In the case of the Nespresso machine, however, we had long been planning to buy one and had conducted research on the device. We already checked out units put on display in malls in Cebu, a practice called “showrooming” or checking out products in a physical store in order to buy these online at a lower price. Mention showrooming and retailers are sure to go apoplectic with indignation.
The fashion items we got a few days later, again all in great condition, at a significant bargain from their actual prices, and with free shipping. The power bank, however, is still on its way as of this writing because of shipping restrictions. Batteries cannot be transported on airplanes and will have to be shipped.
I’ve always had a great experience buying items from Lazada and it wasn’t any different during the Pinoy Black Friday. The only glitch was the delivery, which took a bit longer because they had to deal with significantly more items, the courier told me.
When I discussed the purchase with some friends, they expressed the usual concern about online security, payment and susceptibility to scams. With buying from Lazada, you have a company to hold accountable for your purchases, unlike buying from random people via online marketplaces. With Lazada, you also have the option to pay on delivery—which gives you the chance to check the items out before actually paying the courier.
While the inventories of online shops like Lazada and Zalora are already extensive, I look forward to the day when we could order such things as groceries and have these delivered at home. Already, Lazada is starting to stock items like shampoos (again at a significant price cut).
While it might seem that online markets like Lazada will ease out smaller merchants and endanger neighborhood shops, they also offer the opportunity for vendors to get into their platform and reach millions of potential customers.
I saw one local computer shop, for example, listing items on Lazada. The company has an ugly, outdated, and largely ineffective website but by signing up with Lazada, they get on a robust ecommerce platform with an established payment system, and a well-implemented mobile application without having to build systems themselves.
(max@limpag.com)