72% of online buyers are females; techies aged 25-34 shop the most

One who buys online a robot vacuum cleaner for only P250 or an iPhone for P2,500 is bound to be scammed. S/he needs to learn fast that not everything on the Net is true.

Shopping online is no different from the physical store. Smart buyers scrutinize the product, compare price and quality with other sellers, look for bargains and secure warranty.

Best to go with the flow. Eighty-six percent of Filipino buyers pay cash on delivery. Seventy-two percent are female; techies aged 25-34 make the most online purchases.

Tatay, lolo, kuya had better leave to wives, sisters, children and apo the research and selection of product. Even the purchase date: on “holidays” like July 7, Aug. 8, Sept. 9 and so on for big discounts, free deliveries and other come-ons. They’re more facile with e-wallets.

Shopee-Philippines has the highest number of online visits per month, 74.91 million, digital marketing firm Spiralytics reported last May. Next are Facebook Marketplace, Lazada and Carousell.

But Lazada seems the more popular household term, as in, “I-Lazada mo para hindi ka na ma-traffic.” Could it be because Lazada quickly attends to complaints and refunds? Or that its delivery men and women are prompt and friendly? Or that it legitimizes the informal sector and helps first-time sellers become full-fledged entrepreneurs?

Customer service is the new battleground for online retailers, Spiralytics said. Increased competition needs improved customer loyalty.

Speed is important, Spiralytics noted. Since e-commerce’s biggest sell is convenience, delivery times and reach are crucial. Online platforms are partnering with logistics networks to address these.

The stats dictate so. Philippine online selling was only $3 billion in 2019. Fifty-four percent of buyers made their first purchase during the pandemic lockdown; 73 percent of them continued even after lifting of restrictions. By 2022, volume hit $14 billion. Experts forecast a 15 percent rise to $16 billion this year, onto $24 billion by 2025.

Electronics are the hottest sellers online. Not far behind are food, fashion, health and beauty products. Plus spare parts, collectibles and business-to-business transactions.

Online buyers await those double-digit sales. 4.4, 5.5, 6.6 not only enable them to discover new wares. Sellers are able to clear inventories and earn for business expansion. Thousands get employed as delivery drivers, warehouse staff and customer service reps.

*      *      *

Ride-hailing/delivery service Grab Viber-ed a government official receipt for P10 million dated Apr. 27, 2021. That’s to correct my report that it still hadn’t paid the P10-million fine that LTFRB imposed on July 9, 2018. Thank you, Arvi Lopez, Grab country communications head, and Jika Dalupan, Universalis managing partner.

They didn’t have, however, a Report of Compliance that could’ve explained why it took Grab three years to pay. They referred me to LTFRB, which is media-averse.

In an earlier press statement, LTFRB Chairman Teofilo Guadiz said he holds a copy of the receipt, but showed none. No Report of Compliance either.

On record is a report to him by LTFRB’s Information Management System division, May 1, 2023, “2018 Decided Cases-Complaints.” It states: “Remarks – Respondent [My Taxi Ph Inc/Grab] to submit a Report of Compliance one week from the time the rebate has been fully implemented. Amount Paid, Official Receipt No., Date Paid – (blank).”

Guadiz, who joined LTFRB only in December 2022, denied the agency’s leniency towards Grab since 2013. But also on record are complaints by then-Rep. Jericho Nograles.

A 2014 joint administrative order by DOTr, LTO and LTFRB prescribed P5,000 fine for every count of overcharging of passengers. In 2018, Nograles said, that meant a P15-billion fine for Grab’s overcharging of three million passengers. But LTFRB slashed it to only P10 million, claiming that P15 billion was “unrealistic.”

Nograles pointed out the treatment of overcharging taxi drivers. Licenses suspended, they have to queue at LTFRB to pay a P5,000 fine in borrowed money to work again.

Past LTFRB board members quarreled over Grab. One of them, Ariel Inton, now with Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection, has pending complaints for unexplained surge charges. Too, against Grab’s backdoor entry into motorcycle taxi by buying 99.8 percent of MoveIt, one of only three outfits in Congress’ dry-run. Grab had been barred since it already dominates the four-wheeled market.

In Malacañang in January, Grab Holdings’ Singaporean CEO Anthony Tan bragged he could create 500,000 new jobs by expanding locally. LTFRB opened 50,000 slots for driver-partners. On June 21, Tan laid off 1,000 employees, 11 percent of Grab’s Southeast Asian workforce. Grab-PH did not say how many were affected, only that they’d be recompensed.

The Philippine Competition Commission fined Grab P9 million in May for failure to fully refund customers P25.45 million, ordered since 2019 and 2020.

*      *      *

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8 to 10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM).

Follow me on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/Jarius-Bondoc