ONLINE selling used to be a niche market. Now, everyone with a business, whether big or small, is doing it. While I miss going to brick-and-mortar stores, I am glad that e-commerce in the country is growing. We don’t know when this pandemic will be over so even if you’re technically challenged, this is the best time to learn about online shopping and how to do it.
Since early this year, Puregold has been working on strengthening its online presence. First, the supermarket chain launched its own Puregold Mobile app, or Sally or Shopping Ally, which allows shoppers to purchase products conveniently via an app.
In the new normal, Puregold is reaching out to more customers and audiences.
“We want to be where our customers are, and we all know that means having a strong presence in the digital space,” said Vincent Co, president of Puregold Price Club Inc.
Puregold has launched The Puregold Channel on Facebook and YouTube, a move to further expand its digital footprint and increase its engagement with shoppers. By creating new and unique kinds of content that appeals to a diverse set of audiences, Puregold hopes to keep its customers engaged, such as entertainment content with an instant link to e-commerce. With its 2.3 million and growing followers on Facebook alone, the potential is huge. Puregold is strategically building its “consumers of the future” by directing them to the Puregold Mobile app and its brick-and-mortar stores.
Among the celebrities who have been confirmed to host a segment on The Puregold Channel are Luis Manzano, Alex Calleja and Arra San Agustin.
“This is the foundation of Puregold’s ‘New Retail.’ For us, this is a great opportunity to effectively reinforce our offline and online integration. We see it as a territory that will expand our business further as customers continue to adopt new ways of grocery shopping,” said Co.
BROTHERS ARE MUSHROOM FARMERS
BROTHERS Ted and Bong Quemado were raised on a farm in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, where they learned to love farming. Today, with the help of technology from Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), they are the owners of the social enterprise Mushroom City.
Mushroom City makes crunchy, healthy, guilt-free chicharon out of oyster mushrooms grown naturally in the highlands of Bukidnon.
Ted is a graduate of plant pathology (cum laude), while the older Bong’s background is marketing.
While completing his studies at Central Mindanao University, Ted worked as an apprentice in a mushroom processing center in Malaybalay. He learned that the cool climate and the humidity level in the highlands of Barangay Kalasungay, where their family lives, were suitable to growing mushrooms. This gave him the idea to start a mushroom farm business. The brothers attended trainings under Digital Farmers Program (DFP), jointly run by the Agricultural Training Institute of Department of Agriculture and Smart.
The DFP seeks to empower farmers nationwide through digital technologies. The first phase familiarizes trainees with social media platforms for business use, as well as Internet safety. It also trains farmers how take photos, shoot videos and edit them; conduct interviews and write stories to accompany their visual materials and produce their own agri-related online content.
Along with parent company PLDT Inc., Smart is committed to helping the Philippines attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through various CSR initiatives. DFP falls under programs for SDG #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, wherein societies are tasked to create conditions to help ensure quality jobs.
The DFP gave the brothers the direction they needed to push their venture to a much broader market. Soon after they finished their trainings, Ted and Bong developed the online presence of Mushroom City.
“Technology has been our tool in marketing our products,” said Bong.
With the rise of online sellers and health advocates, Mushroom City has been attracting more and more buyers, especially those who are looking for all-natural and keto-friendly food. “We harvest 20 to 40 kilos of mushrooms a day,” Ted says. Their products include fresh oyster mushrooms, known for its delicate texture and savory flavor. Other products include mushroom fruiting bags, mushroom chili garlic sauce, and variants of their bestseller mushroom chicharon.
Mushroom City has recently opened the business to resellers, wholesalers and retailers not only in the Philippines but also around the world, thanks to the Internet. Further proof of Mushroom City’s online influence is their constant appearance in agri-preneurial webinars, where the brothers are able to display their tech-savvy in proper video production.
Their trainings via social media have taken the place of Mushroom City’s hands-on seminars on the proper way to cultivate mushrooms, wherein they also give participants a tour of their farm.
The Quemados hope to lift the farming community as well by raising awareness about e-commerce and the digital tools that could help farmers sell their products directly to the consumers and be more profitable.