Getting Buyers' Attention

Common mistake of our local online merchants is the mentality of simply building a website and wait for its buyers to come. A lot offered various services that are available in traditional brick and mortar stores too. Competing in such an environment is very limited and does not provide any unique advantage. Although targeting overseas Filipino workers can be attractive, one must remember that their buying habits are driven by seasonal occasions.

Merchants engaging in the online business should formulate strategies to make themselves the shopping site of choice, both online and offline, for its target buyers. There are so many ways that the merchants can reach out to its customers. I consider the mobile phone as the most important marketing channel today. Our survey shows that all local online buyers have mobile phones and send an average of 18 text messages a day and more than half of them are users of value-added services.

Notification of new products, regular updates on stories of interest, and allowing registered buyers to do a quick search on products can provide a lot of value to any online business.

The online merchant must look into online and offline channels in doing business to make the buying experience convenient for the customer. Perhaps, this is the reason why MyAyala.com is slowly gaining ground in the market. Providing a service that intends to compliment the existing services of the center, especially its movie theater, is driving consumers to their end. However, its online mall can still be improved.

Instead of doing everything alone, online merchants should consider partnering with the right content providers and network operators to achieve business objectives at the least cost possible.

In the end, only those who’ll be able to achieve the highest customer retention will succeed. Customer usage must be studied diligently in order to come up with ongoing programs to achieve customer loyalty and increased sales.