OLX exec bullish on e-Commerce growth

WITH internet accessibility and connectivity expected to improve in the Philippines, more people will be able to benefit from online trading or e-commerce.

OLX Philippines General Manager Giancarlo Bonsel said that with more people gaining access to internet, more people also gain access to education and e-commerce.

“That is a clear win together case,” he told reporters during the launching of OLX’s new campaign on Tuesday.

“Win Together,” the company’s 2016 campaign, “is aligned with its vision of improving Filipinos’ lives by bringing people together for win-win exchanges.”

Buy-and-sell platform OLX (which originally stood for Online Exchange) has been operating in the Philippines for 10 years now, connecting buyers and users across the country.

It is also available in 45 countries and has 2,000 employees in offices all over the world.

Bonsel welcomed the move of the Duterte administration to improve connectivity across the country and make free internet more accessible to the public.

President Rodrigo Duterte, even before he assumed his post last June 30, already warned the two leading telecommunication companies in the country to “shape up or face foreign competition” in terms of providing internet services.

Before stepping down, former President Benigno Aquino III signed into law the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology which is seen to address problems on internet connectivity in the country, among others.

According to the United Nations, only 37 percent of Filipinos had access to the internet in 2013.

The Philippines’ internet connection speed averaged at 3.64 megabits per second (Mbps) in 2015, the second slowest in Asia, according to internet metrics provider Ookla.

Since its launch in the Philippines a decade ago, OLX has grown to cater to 40,000 listings every day.

If internet issues in the country are addressed, Bonsel said this figure is projected to grow by 50 to 100 percent annually.

Bonsel said online buy-and-sell platforms can make “fundamental differences in society.”

He said OLX empowers people to “make a little bit of extra cash on the side” and helps them patronize pre-loved items over brand new pieces.

“We lift the whole population to a level where it wants to be by providing them an opportunity to get there,” said Bonsel.

Cebu and the rest of Visayas comprise 15 percent of OLX Philippines’ users while Metro Manila and Luzon make up the majority.
Compared to Manila, however, Bonsel said Cebu has more business sellers than casual sellers. However, more casual sellers are seen to use the OLX

platform over time. In fact, he added, he has heard stories about casual sellers who eventually became entrepreneurs through OLX.