Stalls continue to thrive despite online biz boom

CEBU, Philippines - Amid the rise of online shops in social networking sites due to technology advancements and innovative marketing strategies, stall owners continue to survive for the benefit of the public and online vendors themselves.

Sam dela Peña, 25-year old saleslady of Kevin Niño Trading, admits that their sales have declined since more people prefer online shopping nowadays.

What happened, she added, is that online shoppers don’t know that those products sold online are actually bought from stall owners like them.

Dela Peña said that accessories are a hit among online vendors who buy from their shop and eventually sell it in their sites.

She noted that consumers will save more money if they shop directly and personally, giving them assurance of cheaper and more trusted products.

On the other hand, owner of Forever I’m Yours, Conrad Dungca, said that online shopping is not a threat to their business since they offer a variety of affordable and good quality products that can attract more and more customers aside from their frequent customers.

“As a business entrepreneur, once may hawak ka nang regular clients, sila na ang buhay mo,” he told The FREEMAN. (As a business entrepreneur, once you already have regular clients, they are the business’ lifeline.)

As a matter of fact, he added, that the shop’s target market are the wholesalers which also consists of online vendors from Dumaguete, Cagayan and other parts of the country.

Dungca expressed that they are more threatened with the rise of ukay-ukay (shops selling used clothes or second hand products) since they noticed that Cebuanos are more comfortable with lower prices.

He said that compared to online vendors, what they offer to their customers are products with mark-up prices that have minimal profit and that they don’t feel the need to increase their prices since it will just make their business go down.

In his seven years as store owner, Dungca also tried to venture into online shopping but felt more productive and valuable in their original business.

In earlier reports, consumers are now buying more products online due to the security features of payment services against hackers and identity thieves and small entrepreneurs are venturing more into online shopping trend. (FREEMAN)