By Krista A.M. Montealegre,
National Correspondent
IMAGINE THE DAY when you get to have a feel of an item or see how it works in just one click.
Walt Steven Young, founder of Adobomall, is ready to take the next step in pushing the boundaries of online shopping in the Philippines, banking on augmented reality (AR) in taking on foreign-backed Goliaths of the local e-commerce scene.
Following its exponential growth after more than a year of operations, Adobomall is debuting an AR shopping technology that will engage customers (a la Pokemon Go) and allow them to have “a feel of the product (they) are buying,” bringing down one of the few remaining barriers between brick-and-mortar establishments and online stores.
“It is going to be experiential,” Mr. Young said in an interview.
“More than that though, I think the moment we roll it out, we will develop a craze. We can roll it out in a certain location and that certain location will have great finds and limited items. You can find it in your phone, but once you find it no one else can get that.”
The new feature is ready for launch once it secures the necessary documentation to protect its intellectual property rights.
“I evolved the technology, made it even more exciting. This is like something Elon Musk will be announcing,” Mr. Young said, referring to the billionaire tech entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX.
The Adobomall founder knows what he is doing. In 2002, he established Innerworks International, Inc., an information technology service provider to global clients across a variety of industries, with presence in Australia and North America.
Unlike its more established competitors, Adobomall is more than just a marketplace. It is built like a real shopping mall, providing an online presence for legitimate merchants selling authentic goods.
Since its soft launch in the latter part of 2016 with only nine sellers, Adobomall is now home to close to 300 stores, but has signed up about 500 merchants, comparable to the number of stores located in SM Megamall. The platform is ramping up the acceptance rate to end the year with 1,000 merchants.
“The merchants love us because of the fact that we’re taking care of brand equity. In our platform, they have more leeway to advertise products versus other platforms where they’re jostling for position,” Mr. Young said.
A market of more than 100 million people, the Philippines has the lowest e-commerce penetration rate in Southeast Asia and the potential of online shopping is huge.
For Mr. Young, the problem goes beyond infrastructure.
“The number one factor I have discovered is trust and credibility. It is so common to see a lot of fakes in the gray market,” he said.
Adobomall would have been bigger if not for the stringent screening process it has put in place to certify authorized sellers. After spending four to five months convincing its initial batch of merchants to set up shop in the platform, it now receives a minimum of eight to 10 applications daily, with a non-acceptance rate of more than 50% because these merchants could not provide enough licensing proof.
The result of the rigorous process and the partnership with three to four logistics firms? The site has experienced “only one” return going back to its soft launch, Mr. Young said.
Adobomall has come a long way. From about 6,000 users since its soft launch, users have ballooned to 140,000 with website traffic reaching 1.2 million views as of January.
True to its vision of operating like a real shopping mall, Adobomall is launching a restaurant service later this year apart from selling vouchers on its platform, with plans to eventually offer grocery items, services and movies.
“No one will replace physical experience, but it will definitely take a big portion of how people do their work in the online sphere, in the mobile sphere. It will be a big part of life. Let’s admit that,” Mr. Young said.
Adobomall will eventually offer a premium analytics and big data service — now available for free — to help merchants boost checkout conversion rates. For example, the online platform can determine the most looked at items in their stores, how many times an item was placed on a cart, the demographics of its customers, among others.
A new player in the e-commerce market, Adobomall must be doing something right after being wooed to operate in two Asian countries and getting the attention of local mall operators who have expressed interest to invest in the company, Mr. Young said. An initial public offering in the next five years is also in the cards.
With its success, can Adobomall now supplant the major e-commerce player? Mr. Young said: “Honestly I’m not looking at it… At least if we can sustain our growth, we can be side by side.”
Having worked in an outsourcing company owned by foreigners, Mr. Young is driven to succeed to prove that a tech company from the Philippines can dominate its own turf and the international market.
“There’s a personal touch to it. We have a vision. It’s more than just putting up a business. We’re hungrier. We want to do something and we don’t care how big it is,” he said.
“If I had a dollar for every time somebody discourages me and tells me ‘do you understand who you’re going up against?’ I’ll be very rich now. You know what? I don’t care because if you’re really true to your vision, if it fails, it fails, but if it succeeds then thank you Lord.”
“No one succeeds without having an anchor to run your vision on. That’s my belief and that’s why we’re different and we’re Filipino.”

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