e-Commerce Experience in Bontoc*
The e-commerce business model is for an enterprise to
commission the setup of a website and sell products or services online. In places where ecommerce has become part of
one’s daily life, customers buy products online using their credit cards. In the coming years more ways to pay were
being offered using platforms such as PayPal, debit cards, WePay, Google
Checkout, Amazon paymetns among others. The use of credit cards is still the most popular
way to purchase from e-Commerce sites.
Online transactions are most popular in urban areas where
the Internet infrastructure and shipping support from logistic companies is
well in place. How about in the rural areas?
What if one does not have a credit card?
How do they transact online, or how do they do away with credit
cards? To get answers residents of
Bontoc were the subjects of a survey.
Questions like- do you have experiences in buying things online? What is your view of doing online transactions? What are the sites you visit the most? Have tried doing online purchases? What products did you buy? Do you have a credit card? How did you pay for online transactions? What prevents you from doing online
transactions? To find this out, some
students of Xijen College of Mountain Province were tasked to do a research on
the online experiences of select groups, local businessmen (ages 20 to 45) and
college age students (ages 16-21). The
survey covered thirty-six respondents each from the select groups and these are
their findings: ninety two percent of
the students and businessmen interviewed know how to use the Internet. The most popular sites visited online among
students put Facebook on top of the list, followed by Google (as a search tool
for assignments), YouTube, Yahoo and E-mail.
Among businessmen Google as a search tool for business related searches
comes on top of the list followed by Facebook, e-mail and Skype (a face to face
online communication application). In
the area of purchasing experiences, one hundred percent do not have credit
cards. Despite the lack of credit cards,
twenty three percent at one time have been able to make purchases online. To do away with the use of credit cards,
meet-ups are arranged. Meet-ups mean
both buyer and seller agree to meet in one place to trade. Meet ups however are not done in Bontoc,
usually, it is in Baguio City where meet-ups are experienced.
Other methods of payment done by a student include deposits
to the seller’s bank account or Cash on Delivery through -logistics Company LBC
or Air 21 who despite not having an office here makes deliveries to Bontoc. Shoes, bags, t-shirts, cell phones are the
popular items bought by students online.
Ayosdito.ph (a classified ad like ecommerce site), Zalora
(zalora.com.ph) and Lazada (lazada.com.ph).
The common complaint among students who tried buying online is the long
wait for the product to arrive (three to five days delivery lead times for
students is too long). Among local
businessmen, there too is a low percentage of ownership of credit cards. Of the respondent businessmen, only twenty
(20%) have credit cards with the majority-using VISA. Thirty eight percent of the local businessmen
interviewed made purchases at one time.
Hard to find tools, equipment and gadgets (such as cellphones) are on
top of the list of purchases. The
majority of businessmen interviewed who never had online transaction experience
cited the lack of trust or fear of being scammed as their main reason. Convenience, lower prices of goods sold
online are the major reasons why this group of businessmen continues to do
online transactions.
The results show that there is a high probability for online
transactions to grow in the coming years –not only in the urban areas but also
the rural areas. Now is the opportune
time for entrepreneurs to explore the use of ecommerce sites as a place to sell
local products, bypassing the middlemen in the process. Building trust from your customers is still a
factor to look into. This holds true not
only in physical transactions but online transactions as well. Security is also a number one concern as to
why people still have an aversion to buying online. PayPal, a payment gateway company does away
with the use of a credit card and as long as one has a bank account, purchases
can be made online. The infrastructure
for online transactions is now in place in Bontoc. In time, more municipalities will be
covered. Coffee, organic produce, fruit
wine, handicrafts, woven bags, fashion accessories are local products with
potential to tap the ecommerce infrastructure.
College or technical vocational graduates can also explore offering
services such as encoding, doing graphics design, secretarial and accounting
services. These are termed as online
freelance jobs. Try oDesk, also
Freelancer (freelancer.com). If you have
the skills, the talent or simply is not afraid to take on the challenge of
doing a job for someone at the other side of the globe then this one is for
you. You can earn while at home in front
of your computer. Here’s a sample job at freelancer.com; find
information from websites for a starting pay of 306 U.S. dollars. The catch is, you will compete with others
who will offer to do the work at a much lower rate. Another is filling an Excel worksheet with
data for 86 U.S. dollars.
*Bontoc is the commercial and capital town of Mountain Province, a landlocked, "remote" town in the Cordillera Mountain ranges of the Philippines.