By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
Argomall, a Filipino-owned online shopping platform focusing on authentic consumer electronics solely catering to the Philippine market, expects a stronger double-digit growth in sales as more Filipinos are converting to authentic smartphone units from feature phones.
Karel Holub, Argomall, Inc. chief argonaut, said in a media roundtable that Argomall.com has experienced robust double-digit growth in their first three years of operation. The online shopping platform, which is owned by wholly Filipino-owned conglomerate Transnational Diversified Group of Companies (TDG), only sells authentic smartphones, laptops, tablets and smart watches, and accessories from the brand manufacturers and official distributors.
Holub refused to give exact figures, but cited there are 50,000 Filipinos who are buying smartphones daily. As a start-up online shopping for consumer electronics, they average half a million visits a month.
According to Holub, they carried 400 smartphones on the first year of operation but they now carry 520 various smartphone models, representing almost 100 percent of official phones available in the market.
Argomall does not carry feature phones, which account for 10 percent only of the total mobile phone market, with the exception of Nokia. Argomall said they will soon include TVs and small home appliances in addition to mobile phones.
They already have a good following as customers who bought on their first year of operation are buying again, indicating that Filipinos change their gadgets once in every three years.
Holub said that growth is driven by its good value proposition. Foremost, he said, they only sell authentic electronic gadgets from the brand manufacturers and official distributors. All products also come with Philippine warranty, invoice and official receipt.
“We pride ourselves in delivering integrity and authenticity in all our product and services,” said Holub.
Argomall.com also allows customers to do price and specs comparison for the products allowing customers to easily decide which gadget suits them well.
In addition, Argomall has one price for each product whether COD, credit card, PayPal, or any of its wide payment options. There are no fine prints or hidden charges. All purchases include free door-to-door nationwide through its hybrid logistics scheme.
Argomall’s exclusive partnership with Home Credit likewise allows its customers in Metro Manila (and soon in Cebu and Davao) to enjoy online installment right on its website.
Holub said they are still working on perfecting their delivery system considering that logistics in an archipelagic country can be very challenging.
As a start-up what is more important is being able to build the confidence of online shoppers, said Holub.
To do this, Argomall has 20 core employees half of them are engaged as customer relations.
“We do not outsource our customer relations. We have enough agents and we don’t limit their conversation with customers, we don’t give them scripts, we just want them to engage our customers for a happy experience,” said Holub, the country manager of Nokia Philippines, Inc. before he joined Argomall in 2015.
Their customer relations managers also assist those non-tech savvy customers in creating their accounts so they can proceed with their transactions.