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Philippines: Top 3 small business trends for the year
Since 2020 began, the Philippine business landscape has been shaken by unfortunate series of events, from the Taal Volcano eruption in January to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Businesses continue to be floored by these, plus other external factors. The question now is: How can they, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), bounce back?
Luckily, we don’t need to look too far, as the SME ecosystem in the country has transformed through the years. Ongoing trends have shown that local SMEs are adaptable and resilient in periods of fast and ever-shifting environments.
For example, in 2018, we saw mom-and-pop stores go fully online. Their inventory was easily kept inside their homes and selling was done on social media or other electronic commerce (e-commerce) sites. With the advent of such media, people realized that they can start and run their businesses with low capital, minimal operating expenses and few workers.
To adapt to these tough events, we must look into three small business trends that have guided SME owners for years and continued to drive the business landscape in the Philippines:
1. Join the e-commerce bandwagon. Every month, big e-commerce providers hold special sales. If you’re keeping track of the frequency of these sales, you can compare them with the promos of big shopping malls. These promotions have increased consumer traffic to their websites and business owners have used people’s continued reliance on these e-commerce providers. For owners who don’t have time to manage their websites or have the logistical and financial capability to set up their own e-commerce platforms, they can easily enrol in those of Lazada and Shopee.
As a small business, you can use the influence of Lazada and Shopee — currently the top e-commerce platforms in the country — to sell your product and they will deal with all the logistics and payment concerns for your business. Shopee’s website states it “provides the right tools to support all our sellers on our marketplace platform.” For additional reference, based on a breakdown by Cjango Web Solutions, the top three listings on Lazada are mobiles and tablets, home and living, and fashion.
Current circumstances have limited the services of these e-commerce players as the current provisions of the ongoing enhanced community quarantine only allow the movement of necessary goods and services. However, this sector has also shown its diversity and timely evolution. It wasn’t clear before how marrying the supermarket and e-commerce would flourish, but now they are as relevant as ever. As physical distancing orders are executed, the millions of middle-class Filipinos needed an alternative in securing their basic necessities. This gives supermarket e-commerce players the perfect opportunity to serve their fellow Filipinos.
2. Take advantage of fintech. Although financial technology (fintech) has been the hottest trend in the start-up/banking scene since 2019, we still need to include it more into the wider conversation, especially during this time. Nonbusiness owners would have a smaller degree of affinity to fintech and would probably be familiar with digital wallets and other business-to-consumer platforms, but that’s just half the scope. Fintech simply means making existing banking or financial products easier to use or access via technology.
Fintech may be still in its early stages, but it will just keep on becoming relevant as more innovations are being made. One example is how different data points can be used to check if a Filipino without a previous banking history is qualified to start using a checking account.
Small businesses have a lot to gain from the emergence of this technology — from being able to accept different forms of payments online and starting a business’ credit score in the Philippines to even getting uncollateralized loans. To learn more about online loans and fast business financing with First Circle, visit www.firstcircle.ph. As this trend develops, small businesses must remain open to possibly getting their loans or payments completely online. It is clear that fintech is here to stay and consumers are beginning to notice it. Business owners must start adapting their modes of payment to this.
The current pandemic has also shown the adaptability of this technology. As the cashless movement continues to expand, some businesses or organizations have used this technology to accept donations for their planned effort to help our frontliners. Now if you want to donate, you only need to scan the OR code of the organization and transfer money to it. No need for over-the-counter bank deposits or filling out those confusing bills payment slips.
3. Provide excellent customer experience. Customer experience has been a growing concept in the world of business. Western companies have adopted this idea and ingrained it in their overall processes. Providing good customer experience doesn’t just mean making a product that a customer wants. An article from McKinsey & Co. says it best: “Understanding the customer journey is about learning what customers experience from the moment they begin considering a purchase and then working to make the journey toward buying a product or service as simple, clear and efficient as possible.”
For a Filipino, this is malasakit, or empathy. In simple language, having excellent customer experience means you show empathy to your consumers/suppliers.
If you are a small business owner and have clients you can’t currently serve because of the quarantine, show some malasakit. This will come a long way for your business.
By no means these business trends are the only ones trending in our country. But they have been observed as key drivers of growth across all industries in the Philippines. Let this list be a guide of what you can do to sustain your business right now and, eventually, move forward when the crises end.
Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/04/11/business/columnists-business/top-3-small-business-trends-for-the-year/712309/