Only a few more days until the 69th Miss Universe competition, and we only have a few hours hours left to vote for our very own Rabiya Mateo to get into the top 21.

With all the technological advancements that have fast tracked how we do things now in this pandemic, Lazada has made online shopping experience even better. "One thing that we're really proud of is our innovations on shoppertainment. We're a firm believer that E-Commerce has changed. People don't just come to shop, they come to watch, to play, to stay," says Lazada Philippines’ chief marketing officer Neil Trinidad tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle.

An exclusive partnership with the Miss Universe Philippines Organization, Trinidad revealed that they started talking around the same time last year. "Yes, we wanted to create the next level of interactive experience for the Filipino beauty pageant voters," says Trinidad about why they said yes to this collaboration right away. And the culmination of this project between the two is the Miss Universe voting feature where we can help vote for our very own Rabiya Mateo into the top 21 on May 16.

The online shopping app has made it so much easier for us to vote—and it's through their app. All you need to do is:
1. Go to the home page.
2. Click on feed.
3. Proceed to the Miss Universe tab.
4. Tap "Go to Vote."One account can only vote once, but you can purchase additional voting packages on the Lazada app.

Trinidad also recommended that you take a screenshot after voting so you can share, in your own little ways, how easy it is to vote. "We also have a leaderboard which candidates are in the one, two, three positions," he says. "There's a lot of demand to get to know the pageant contestants, so we uploaded more videos so that people can get to know them more about them. On top of that, we have a livestream function working with the past Miss Philippines candidates and also, Rabiya."

Trinidad ends the exclusive interview, "For us, it's really our way to create meaningful experiences with our consumers. We believe that the app can be, not just an e-commerce platform, but a lifestyle destination. and to become a lifestyle destination, we realized that we need to identify passions that our consumers feel so strongly about. Miss Universe is one of them. It's really our way to drive connections and engagement via this partnership. We really want to create meaningful connections using the power of the platforms to connect, to engage, and to entertain. We're happy and thankful we get to do this with the Miss Universe organization as a reward to all our Filipino consumers."