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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Women micro-entrepreneurs urged to establish strong online presence amid rise of e-commerce

Women micro-entrepreneurs urged to establish strong online presence amid rise of e-commerce

Published Jul 10, 2021 01:07 pm

As e-commerce thrives amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Gender Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT) Women Project 2 seeks to train more women micro-entrepreneurs (WMEs) to establish a strong online presence.

(Screenshot from Facebook live)

Funded by the Government of Canada and led by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), GREAT Women Project 2 aims to improve the economic empowerment of WMEs and their workers through improving competitiveness and sustainability of women's micro-enterprises and improving the enabling environment for women's economic empowerment.

During the two-day webinar titled HM SIS: How to Make Shares Into Sales hosted by the GREAT Women Project 2 - Department of Agriculture Cagayan Valley, content creator and entrepreneur Roanne Carreon emphasized how online selling platforms have provided an extremely affordable way for new business to start interacting with their customers.

"Online marketplaces allow anyone to set up a simple online shop and sell products within minutes," Carreon said.

Also among the benefits of an online selling platform are inventories are easier to monitor and managed; it brings the potential for rapid sales growth; and removes the expensive retail premises and customer-facing staff.

The rise of contactless payment

The pandemic has caused a surge in demand for contactless payments, accelerating the shift from cash to digital options.

Carreon said those who offer e-payment methods "gain advantage over those that only accept traditional methods" since the number of making cash payments is "decreasing."

"Electronic transactions and payments take a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds! What's more, e-payments eliminate the security risk of handling large amounts of cash," she stressed.

Social media marketing

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are important for marketing, said Carreon.

"We can market our online platforms on social media to increase our reach," she added.

"Trial and error din talaga lalo sa umpisa... Okay lang naman na magkamali tapos alamin natin kung ano ba yung nagwo-work sa business na to, ano yung hindi nagwo-work and i-improve natin kung ano yung content natin (It's really trial and error, especially in the beginning... It's okay to make mistakes, then find out eventually what works in your business, what doesn't, and improve what your content is)."

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with the audience to build a brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.

It also involves publishing great content on social media profiles, listening to, and engaging your followers, analyzing your results, and running social media advertisements.

Over 50 GREAT Women Project 2 enrollees attended the two-day webinar on July 8-9.

Related Tags

E-commerce online selling women micro entrepreneurs covid-19 GREAT Women Project 2
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