E-Commerce Entrepreneurs Summit Experience

Last Jan 7, 2017, I attended the E-Commerce Entrepreneurs Summit held at A. Venue Hotel Makati. I'm very much honored and grateful for the good deed of Ms. Janette Toral, the event organizer, an e-commerce advocate in the Philippines for inviting me to join the event.

What is E-Commerce?

E-commerce " is a transaction of buying or selling online" (Wikipedia). Nowadays 80% of the online population has used the Internet to purchase something.  This will result to faster buying/selling and easy to find products. As an entrepreneur, you want to attract more customer.

With online presence of your business, the consumer will easily find your business or get hook with the product you're into. There will be more reach to customers because there is no geographical limitation when it comes to online. You can actually sell products across the world.

It is easy to start a business with e-commerce because it doesn't need a physical store or company set-ups. Your business can run 24/7 that increases your sales even when your sleeping.  The entire payment transactions are done online. It makes every transaction a lot cheaper.

The fast adaptability of Filipinos when it comes to technology opens the opportunity of E-commerce industry in the country. " THE PHILIPPINES ranked 89th out of 137 countries and territories worldwide in terms of readiness to support online shopping and other business-to-consumer electronic commerce (or B2C e-commerce), according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad)." (Inquirer.net)

In 2016, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launch an aggressive e-commerce advocacy after its release of the Philippines E-Commerce Roadmap (2016-2020). Pushing the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to do business online.  Its target is to get 100,000 businesses to do e-commerce by 2020.

Filipinos were known for their innovative ideas that deal mostly with digital startups. The DigitalFilipino E-Commerce Entrepreneurs Summit, on its 8th year, has served as an important forum tackling developments in this space with relevant and emerging players. A hotspot for e-commerce advocates and digital influencers in this field.

Overview of the event

Mr. Arturo Boncato Jr., Assistant Secretary of DTI talked about the updates on the E-Commerce roadmap progress and 2017 E-commerce programs.

Dr. Nick Fontanilla of i-Metrics Asia-Pacific Corp., shared the 2016 year-end report and forecast for 2017. He stated that our country have the talented filipinos combined with entrepreneurs that can be used as a foundation to grow the E-Commerce in the Philippines.

Achilles Reyes, COO of CheckMeOut discussed the Logistics and Last Mile Delivery Network. For E-Commerce to do well, we need a cross-border shipping, logistics, and domestic services.

Inanc Balci of Lazada explains The Future of Marketplace around the world are now maturing, changing, and adopting to local and global developments. He talked about Lazada in the future becoming into a social platform, where customers can talk to each other, to merchants, and to the brands.

Miguel Warren, the country manager of Payoneer Philippines, mentioned the cross-border payments and using escrow services when doing E-Commerce business internationally.

Rachel Tolentino, CEO of PhilYES, illustrate that more B2B  sites are expected to rise in the Philippines from 2017 onwards.

Coach Genesis Reonico, the founder of Online Jobs University, highlights the growing number of freelancers in the country and how the world shows the changing trend in workplace environments.

For the Advance E-Commerce Marketing Strategies, Search Engine Advertising, and Performance Marketing, three gorgeous gentlemen reveal their experiences and understandings, namely: Mannix Pabalan of Hashtag Digital, Glen Dimaandal of GDI Online marketing, Jun Baranggan of PTB Digital hub.

Coach Genesis Reonico, one of the speaker of the event

Students of Certified E-Commerce Specialists, Entrepreneur, and Professional Program by Ms. Janet Toral proudly presented their projects. They are scheduled to visit Singapore and Malaysia to showcase their marketplace project there.

Of course, the event would never be possible with the support of generous sponsors: Payoneer, BlogADia, Volkswagen, Alfox Printing Services, CheckMeOut.

The event opens the mind of every Filipino for innovation and is ready for the great opportunity of what the future technology brings. E-commerce industry in the country is still in its infancy stage.

Filipinos are known to be skilful on their own and using their own resources. With that attitude working for online market industry and developing E-commerce businesses will be less difficult. Though the Philippines is developing fast,  we are left behind in some technology aspects.

One of the challenges is that a lack of cooperation among government leaders to improve online industries in the country. In order to promote E-commerce to Filipinos, the Department of Trade and Industry took the initiative to start the E-commerce Roadmap together with E-commerce players and digital industry leaders.

We are now heading to compete globally. We have to have the right knowledge and right skills to to be achiever. As a Virtual Assistant, I'm dreaming and hoping that I can be a part of our nation's hope to boost our economy to the fullest.