The Internet
penetration in the Philippines continues to grow, with increased access
allowing users to influence different markets, and businesses having to
constantly update their online strategies and be wary of changing trends.
It is by now well understood by companies
who take their businesses seriously that an online presence is key in both
cornering the market and establishing the ideal brand image. Gone are the days
when simply having a website was a good enough strategy, as just like how
demand dictates the market, it is also the online users who shape the Internet and
its innovations.
The Philippines is no different. The
country possesses roughly 45 million Internet users who spend an average of
over 6 hours daily on their personal computers, and around 3.5 hours on mobile,
despite the country’s not-so-great Internet speeds. This 45 million is the same
online market influencing the way companies market their offerings online.
As
connectivity options grow, so too does the market
In a report by global agency We Are Social,
it was said that the Philippine’s Internet penetration stood at 44 percent in
January 2015, and was expected to pass 50 percent before the year was over. In
the long term, the country’s internet penetration had increased some 630 percent
since 2008, a testament to Filipinos’ penchant for online interaction,
research, and commerce.
This demand for convenience and
connectivity has driven communications providers to further the internet
penetration in the country, be it by different internet and mobile services
options, and increasing choices and affordability in smartphones, laptops, and
other devices. As technologies advance and more people gain access, so too
continues the expansion of the all-important online market. All this, without
even touching on the different platforms users find themselves on, and how each
changes and evolves and can be used.
d an average of
over 6 hours daily on their personal computers, and around 3.5 hours on mobile,
despite the country’s not-so-great Internet speeds. This 45 million is the same
online market influencing the way companies market their offerings online.
Buying,
selling, and marketing by interaction
English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich is
credited for inventing online shopping in 1979, with an initial system that
connected to a modified domestic TV and a real-time transaction processing
computer via a domestic telephone line. In the almost four decades since the
revolutionary innovation, the Philippines and the rest of the world had seen
the rise of different online commerce sites. The most notable locally are Zalora
and Lazada, both already synonymous with online shopping in the country.
In the time that Internet penetration began
being very significant in the country, the Philippines also saw a change in the
online platforms being favored by its users. Expectedly, social media was most
contributory to the increased demand in connectivity, with Facebook and Twitter
being launched to the public in 2006. It is though these venue which people
became more connected, keeping in touch with childhood friends, relatives, and
past acquaintances which they can’t get to see quite as often.
These have been the foundations of
particular online trends today. Business and marketing which was not
traditionally conducted online for the longest period has found its place
online, continuing to reach out to a market that it would have otherwise not
reached via traditional means. More so, brand awareness and client relations
continue to be built by “staying in touch,” with customers getting to know
about the companies behind the products they buy just as much as the companies
get to know them and their product preferences.
Revolutionizing
industries
Both major and minor companies continue to
offer commerce and customer service on their websites. Now, however, it has
also become par for the course to include mobile apps in their online avenues,
on top of maintaining official social media accounts for their brands, with
convenience and customer/user experience continues to be the driver of online
marketing strategies.
To an extent, new businesses have been
created and industries revolutionized thanks to the proliferation of the internet
in the Philippines. The resulting mobile apps born out of concepts like Uber
and GrabCar, despite the opposition it is presently receiving from some local
transport groups, has changed the way commuter go about their travels in the
city. It has seemingly made it more convenient, and has provided several
vehicle owners with a means to make an extra-living.
In its Real Estate Market
Report for 2015, Lamudi Philippines recounted how a 2014 survey conducted
by the real estate platform had 88 percent of real estate brokers confirming
that the internet was frequented for house hunting, and that the future of the industry
online. Another survey conducted in 2015 found that 91 percent of all real estate
professionals experienced an increase in real estate inquiries made via online
means.
In as a little less than a decade ago,
online listings platforms were unheard of, as buy and sell websites were geared
more towards products that could be transported and a lot less expensive. The
existence of online marketplaces for industries as complex and unpredictable as
real estate serves as a testament to the continued trend of businesses moving
more and more into the online arena, and revolutionizing it and their own
trades in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment