Having to journey to malls in order to buy items of interest can be a drag. Aside from plotting out which routes to take or where to get on and get off the MRT, there also lies the possibility that the item you’re looking for is unavailable.
Luckily for this generation of shoppers, both well-known and independent brands have resorted to conducting transactions online. It’s not just that we have Ateneo Trade—an online buy-and-sell space exclusive to the Loyola Schools community—but for quite some time now, the Internet has also been a cyber shopping space in its own regard.
E-commerce is a relatively new breed of trade that has developed into a salient consumer culture for the local shopper and has been regularly expanding in places not far from campus. Today, almost anything sold in stores can have its own space online—but along with these online choices are physical spaces close by that supplement the success of hit online stores.
Details on ink
The world is Kara Pangilinan’s canvas with Details Ink, her doodle art business that contains a wide array of products including shirts, posters, and phone cases. This BS Architecture senior from the University of the Philippines-Diliman has collaborated with several brands such as Vrtx, Case Me Store, Borabound, and Superga. She has even been doing doodle projects on guitars, ukuleles, shoes, boots, and even a bike.
It all started during her classes in high school. She filled pages of her journals with words and drawings that expressed different elements of her life. She also drew on the flaps of envelopes for her friends, but little did she know that those few envelopes would be the first of thousands.
To get Details Ink out there, she created an Instagram account featuring artworks printed on notebooks, boxes, and envelopes. The doodles gained a strong following online and that’s when Pangilinan decided to put up the Details Ink website. It was only a matter of time, then, before her works became an online hit. “That’s the best part!” she says, “It’s quick and easy. When people want a product, the process isn’t hard. And of course, you need not pay for expensive on ground rental fees!”
Despite Details Ink having a strong presence online, Pangilinan still makes it a point to see her customers in person. She says she prefers actual interaction with buyers and clients to conversations online. “When you’re online, you don’t get to see their initial reactions to new designs and you don’t get to share what your art is all about,” she says.
“I never want Details Ink to be a commercial brand with mass-produced products because that was not how it started for me,” Panglinan adds. Personal is always better, as she is a regular at bazaars held in places like UP Town Center, Rockwell, or Makati.
Pangilinan shares that online shopping is what most businesses have to veer towards. But she quickly adds, “Just as a majority still prefer actual books over e-books, I believe that physical stores still really have a really large advantage.” Despite this, she says that online stores will definitely become a bigger thing in the future. As she puts it, “Who can say no to such convenience?”
Building an empire
Along a booming side street on Sumulong Highway in Marikina stands Empire Fashion Café. The store’s facade is paneled with glass and fronted by mannequins dressed in the latest styles. Upon entering the shop, a familiar aroma fills the air—coffee.
The shop is lined with racks displaying various items; on the shelves are Nike shoes, Japanese snacks, and Casio watches. On the racks are One Direction statement shirts, Bangkok apparel, colorful co-ord outfits, cute Korean socks, joggers, printed button-down shirts, leather knapsacks, and even cat-designed wallets. At the end of the shop is a café with espresso machines brewing away as speakers thump some pop music in the background.
Geri Arenas, Empire’s sales and marketing officer, is dressed in a crop top and overalls—her working attire. As a self-proclaimed former “bazaar-ista,” she and her partners sought to venture into opening up an affordable, permanent location for online stores with a strong social media following. Empire promotes small businesses, since it’s a space with curated stores that were once only present online.
The store aims to steer away from conventional mall shopping, which according to Arenas, compels shoppers to rush the shopping experience. Empire gives customers a more relaxed and comfortable environment to shop, where they could take their time and even enjoy a sip of coffee.
Pennie Maurillo, a tenant of Empire and owner of Style Stunner Manila, had just one online store last year. She currently handles seven. Maurillo explains that having both an online and a physical store widens your market and ensures that your customers know what they are buying from you. She adds that Filipinos now better appreciate local brands because they can deliver the same good quality at a cheaper price, since materials are in-house.
The common factor
“Online shopping is more familiar to customers now, unlike before when it used to be a new ball game and [you had to] convince them that you are not some bogus online shop,” says Roma Agsalud, owner of Common Room, a creative space near Katipunan Avenue that sells arts and crafts like printed mugs, framed posters, throw pillows, and even fragrances. The artisanal store features 34 local brands specially designed by Filipino artists who sought to collaborate with each other in order to bring their products to the creative market.
As online stores are now setting up pop-up branches and physical stores, e-commerce is no longer a hindrance for customers who need reassurance about what they are buying online. “People don’t just want to buy things, they want to experience [it] as well,” Agsalud says. This ensures that the customers are able to build a connection to the items and guarantees that the products found online are of the same great quality as the ones that can be found in the store.
The store is heavily marketed through social media. “We know the power of social media, we sell our stories and not just our items,” Agsalud explains. She adds that Common Room’s online followers are also interested in these artists’ day-to-day activities. This marketing strategy helps these artists connect with their buyers on a personal level.
Agsalud adds that there’s less risk involved with online stores. After all, it’s all about how a store presents itself online. She says that “The vital part is branding, how you can make it visually pleasing. Even though people don’t touch the product, they should be willing to buy it.”
Be it a doodle art notebook or a laptop case, almost anything can be found online. Now, those same products are made available in extension stores, making those spaces open to growth and expansion. Social media has paved the way for new small businesses to grow, not just through virtual hype but through real-life customers and interactions. Now more than ever, it seems that the Internet is changing the way we shop, and e-commerce is here to stay.
