Here’s another episode of our weekly podcast. We’ve been talking about pandemics in most of our previous podcasts. And yet the pandemic has been dragged until this 2022. People continue to adapt to the changing and challenging times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And today’s topic is about the Philippines. How’s the business in the Philippines during the tough times in 2021. And We will talk about retailers and technology, as this is the most crucial business nowadays.

For those who don’t know, we people who live here in the Philippines mostly are staying at home, working. And yes, even the government employees are skeletal, therefore, the fashion industry is getting lower. Majority of the people are not buying any clothes anymore. Coz what if you are going to stay at home anyway? As a matter of fact, some people who have a meeting online only opted to wear decent clothes on the upper part, because that’s the only thing that can be seen on the camera.

But what’s in store in 2022 for retailers? Personally I’ve been positive late last year that 2022 will be a good year for the Philippines. Even Though that in early January there was a surge, it’s now under control. 

And now that people are slowly getting out of their houses and trying to adapt to the new normal in the outside world. The retail industry will gradually return to it’s sales, I believe.

Since most of the people here are buyers and love to buy things as such, I believe that having a fashion or apparel business is not bad at all. 

Imagine how the fashion industry died during lockdowns, everyone is working from home. No special events or occasions. 

I would also like to talk about the fashion behaviour of the consumers here before and during the pandemic. So for those who are interested in entering the Philippine market you’ll have an idea. 

Shopping is considered as one of the individual’s routines in modern society. Most people engage in shopping to express oneself through buying products, and sometimes lead to impulsive buying.

In the pre-pandemic, there is a high rate of impulsive buying, due to lockdowns and so, people have changed their behaviour when buying. Why? They have come to realize that buying unnecessary things is not really important. Especially now that a lot of people lose their jobs. Many have no income, therefore the rate of impulse buying is decreasing. People are wiser now. 

And this is why retails, wholesale or trading operations should watch for the behaviour changes within the consumers. But then I mentioned that everyone is adapting to the new normal. Economy is opening. That is why e-commerce has moved to the mainstream and its share of the market continues to increase at an exponential rate. 

The rise of e-commerce comes at the expense of traditional supermarkets whose volumes are on a decline.

Not only are Filipinos shopping for clothes, footwear, and electronics in online stores, they are buying their groceries there too. Facebook marketplace leads as the top merchant with 49% market share, followed by GrabMart at 25%, and Lazmart at a far 4%.

And why are many Filipinos fond of online shopping? Simple because the technology is innovating. The growth of e-payment platforms such as PayMaya and G-Cash as well as mobile banking is available for everyone, it’s very easy to use and easy to pay.

Paymaya and Gcash are both online banking platforms that you can use to pay online shopping or even pay your bills. That’s how convenient it is to use. And aside from that, most of the online shops here offer Paymaya and Gcash payment. 

Because of these very convenient payment methods, the rate of online shoppers grows yearly by a huge %. And now, what’s in store for the technology this 2022?

Through the pandemic years, the world had to adapt to different changes. Technologies such as cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning, everything became the new normal.

And yes the past 2 years have been the year of change and the year of technology. 

People had to adapt to technology in a very short period. Moreover. Digital transformation was very important.

Good thing that people adapt immediately, and now technology is part of your life, maybe forever. Things you need to know about Philippine technology if you want to enter the Philippines market. 

First, the online banking – which I already mentioned a while ago. Many Filipinos have already embraced digital banking services. And are more open to innovations that make payments and banking easier and accessible. If you own a website, paypal checkout, cash on delivery, paymaya or gcash payment are the top choices of the people here. 

Second, the marketplace. You may want to use an online platform to sell your products such as Lazada, shopee or facebook. Because consumers have already learned to patronize goods and services and interact with local businesses.

It’s actually easy to enter the Philippine market, you may check other online platforms to use to sell, or you may also create your own website and run ads in your social media accounts. There are a lot of ways to sell here. 

And I’m telling you that the market and percentage of online consumers here are high. 

So good luck everyone, if you have any questions please feel free to send us an email at info@uniprohk.com or visit our website at www.uniproasia.com

Thank you and have a good day!