Shopee helps brands and entrepreneurs thrive amid the pandemic
From a small but promising sliver of the retail industry, e-commerce has taken up the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic. In the Philippines, the Digital 2020 April Statshot report by Hootsuite and We Are Social revealed that 64% of Filipino Internet users are spending more time on social media, with 23% indicating an increased activity in their online shopping activity.
This is not to mention the more than 68,000 business names registered under Internet retail with the government as of last August. According to government data, in May alone, new business name registrations under Internet retail stood at 9,692, nearly 450% higher than the 1,753 names registered from January to mid-March.
Online shopping has become part of the “new normal” and being one of the most prominent and most accessible e-commerce platforms in the country, Shopee is at the forefront.
“At Shopee, we have strong and nimble local teams that enable us to identify key movements on the grounds and adapt quickly to serve our shoppers, brands and sellers better,” Martin Yu, associate director of Shopee Philippines said.
Mr. Yu noted that such adaptability is what allowed Shopee to provide Filipinos with deals on necessities and daily essentials right in the midst of the pandemic, allowing them to prepare for the crisis.
“We have also stepped up on our efforts to empower our brands and sellers to digitalize, recover, and succeed in the long term with e-commerce. For instance, we teamed up with government institutions and brands like USAID, Quezon City Government, and Globe MyBusiness to help sellers transition to online smoothly,” he said.
Shopee also recently launched its Shopee Media Agencies Partner Program (SMAP) to help brands amplify their online presence on Shopee and scale up their e-commerce business. Moreover, brands and sellers are kept up to date on the latest national and local ordinances and announcements to identify which locations are on lockdown, to make sure everyone on the platform complies with the measures to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Giving Filipinos the opportunity to succeed
“At Shopee, brands and sellers form the backbone of our business, and we are committed to empowering our partners to launch, scale, and succeed online,” Mr. Yu said.
This year, the online platform has rolled out a range of measures for online sellers, such as the Seller Support Package, which comprises a series of initiatives that aim to ease operational costs and boost sales, including subsidized shipping and administration fees, vouchers, and free advertising credits.
Shopee also enhanced its Seller Center, a one-stop platform for sellers to manage their online stores on Shopee. With this, sellers can easily keep track of orders, monitor payments, track deliveries, and handle in-app marketing campaigns all in one place. Seller University, meanwhile, is where sellers can learn and level up different essential skills, ranging from digital marketing to logistics.
“As more brands and sellers are actively exploring new ways to reach and engage their consumers, they can tap on our wide range of in-app engagement features such as in-app games and Shopee Live,” Mr. Yu added.
Shopee Live, he noted, brings together unique entertainment, real-time interactions, and instant purchases, providing a real-time shopping experience that spurs the connection between sellers and consumers.
“We also increased brands’ capacity to engage users in a fun and social way through a dynamic library of in-app gamification tactics. During our recent 10.10 Brands Festival, brands like Unilever, Globe, and Garnier created special editions of Shopee games like Shopee Candy, Shopee Claw, and Shopee Link to interact and give rewards to their consumers,” Mr. Yu said.
Anyone who wants to sell on Shopee simply needs to download the app and start posting their products on the platform. For more information on how to start selling on Shopee, interested users can visit this link: https://help.shopee.ph/ph/s/article/How-to-Sell-1542962769245.
