Economy – FAQ.ph

Black Friday in the Philippines

October 13, 2018 By FAQ Leave a Comment

Black Friday is the biggest sale event of the year, during which online stores from all over the world provide up to 90% discounts. Black Friday, known previously only in the States, has gained a truly worldwide popularity within just a few years. Black-Friday.Global Analysis Team has been closely following this trend for the past several years. In the Philippines – 73% of respondents made it clear that they do know what Black Friday is. The survey suggests that over half of Filipinos will participate in Black Friday this year (over a double increase compared to 2017).

Unsurprisingly, Philippine consumers were buying more actively than usual too. Average Filipino bargain hunter is willing to pay PHP 2800 ($59) in total for his/her Black Friday shopping cart. That is $18 more than Malaysian consumers, and $21 less than Indonesians.

Every year, the world press feeds us with dozens of photos of crowds besieging electronics stores. Surprisingly though, the results of our survey state that clothes, not electronics, are the actual apple of bargain hunters’ eye. Consumer electronics category came second in our ranking. On the other side of the scale books, sports accessories and underwear were the least popular items to buy. When it comes to the most popular shops Shopee, Lazada and Zalora took the three top spots.

Black Friday is well known for its discounts reaching as high as 80-90%. As the average discount in the Philippines online stores reached 61% last year, when forecasting Filipinos’ Black Friday 2018 expenses, it could translate into PHP 4386 of possible average saving.

Black Friday by the Numbers:

This year the Black Friday is November 23;
73% of Filipinos know what Black Friday is;
Almost 55% of Filipinos will participate in Black Friday this year (double increase compared to 2017);
Average Filipino will spend PHP 2800 on Black Friday;
40% of consumers will shop online only;
Traditional offline-only option will be chosen by 4% of consumers (last year—15%);
The average discount in Filipino online stores reached 61% last year;
It could translate into PHP 4286 of possible average savings;
Clothes, electronics and shoes are the most popular items to buy.

How to be prepared for Black Friday?

First, postpone your biggest fall/winter buys to November – this way you can save hundreds of peso!
Do your research on the prices of the products you want to purchase prior to Black Friday so you know exactly how much you are saving!
A few days before Black Friday, check out the announcements of Black Friday deals;
When the Black Friday sales start, do not waste your time, ‘cause the highest discounts and the best prices are only valid for a short period of time!

Top 10 Richest Cities in the Philippines

June 10, 2018 By FAQ Leave a Comment

As an emerging developing country in Asia, the Philippines has been showing its business competencies for the past few years. This can be seen by looking into its wealthiest cities. Consisting of 145 cities, below are the Philippine top ten cities owning the biggest amount of economic assets as of 2017.

1. Makati City (PHP 34,461 billion)

Makati’s role as the country’s business center is undeniable. The reason for this is clear: there are a lot of international, regional and local corporations and offices of significance in the city. In fact, the number of business corporations in the city has been known to be the highest in the country.

Due to the lure of the city, its population reaches over 500,000 people, which puts the city in the 17th position in the nationwide biggest city category.

2. Quezon City (PHP 31, 917 billion)

On the second place is Quezon City, which used to be the capital of the country during the period of 1948 until 1976. Home to the most prestigious universities in the country, University of the Philippines Diliman and Ateneo de Manila, and key government offices, such as the Batasang Pambansa Complex, the city is known to cater a wide range business endeavours.

Its most recent business district is Triangle Park, which lies on 250 ha area. The place is divided into Commons, Downtown Hub, Emporium, Residences at Veterans and Triangle Exchange. This adds to the city’s popular money making areas: Eastwood City with its business district, Araneta Center with its shopping malls and other commercial centers, Tomas Morato and Timog Avenues with their rows of restaurants and entertainment.

In addition, the main Philippine broadcasting networks, like RPN, UNTV, and GMA Network, are headquartered in Quezon City.

3. Pasig City (PHP 20,036 billion)

Pasig has a renowned business area called the Ortigas Center, where prominent business headquarters, like Meralco and San Miguel, are located. There are also Kapitolyo, Capitol Commons, St. Francis Square, Tiendesitas known to be the food and shopping centers of the city, Metrowalk as the city leasure hub, as well as Mutya ng Pasig, a three storey public market.

The city also used to hold the Guinness World Record for the largest secondary school in the world, with a population of around 20,000 students in Rizal High School from 1993 until 2005.

4. Manila City (PHP 13,131 billion)

Initially named the Spanish City of Manila by the founder, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, in 1571, the city functioned as home to many colonial rulers. No wonder, a lot of historical sites from the 16th century can be found in the city.

Recently listed as a global city by Globalization and World Cities Research Network, Manila is reputed to be one top business and tourism center in the Philippines. With its large business coverage (banking, finances, real estate, etc), the city lures people to come. In fact, Manila is one of the world’s most crowded city with a population of around 1,7 million (based on 2016 census data).

5. Zamboanga City (PHP 10,464 billion)

Known as the Sardines Capital, Zamboanga City is home to major sardine factories in the Philippines. That is indeed one of the reasons that makes it the center of business in Zamboanga Peninsula Region.

Other reasons include the presence of big corporations, such as Beauche International and Globe Telecom, and the local government policy that simplifies bureaucracy and attracts more investment in the city business.

6. Cebu (PHP 7,885 billion)

Located in Visayas region, this city holds an important role in the area. In its main business district, Cebu Business Park, are big corporations, such as Cathay Pacific, Innove Communications, Jinisys Software, as well as financial offices and banks, like Citibank, Chinatrust, Asia United Bank, and HSBC.

Not only is it the city of commerce, but it is also a modern city with premium residential complex, the Alcoves and Avalon Condo Cebu, and a big shopping mall, Ayala Center Cebu.

7. Caloocan City (PHP 6,894 billion)

This former part of Rizal province has been striving to create conducive environment for investors and provide more job opportunities for its citizens. As a highly urbanized city, Caloocan is equipped with numberous banks and shopping centers, such as Victory Central Mall, Puregold Maypajo and Puregold Monumento.

8. Marikina City (PHP 4,887 billion)

This city is divided into two: the southern part is mostly for business establishments, while the northern for factories. Widely recognized as one of the country’s shoe capital, leather shoe industries are the dominant businesses in the city.

9. Calamba City (PHP 4,690 billion)

Blessed with lots of hot springs, resorts equipped with the natural hot water facility can be found all around the city. For that reason, Calamba is known to be the country’s resort capital. The City is known as the Resort Capital of the Philippines because of its numerous hot spring resorts. It is also the hometown of the Philippine National Hero, Jose Rizal.

10. Cagayan de Oro (PHP 4,670 billion)

Located in the northern part of Mindanao, this city is the business center in the area. One of the most well known businesses there is related to tourism: services that provide rafting or kayaking adventures.

There you have it! The lists above are just some of the richest cities in the Philippines. I hope you gained knowledge from this article.

12 Popular Online Websites for Shopping in the Philippines

March 10, 2018 By FAQ 1 Comment

There is no question that for the past few years online shopping has grown more popular. The phenomenon has enabled so many new entrepreneurs to establish their businesses at lower cost — thanks to the virtual online retail stores and affordable marketing campaigns. Not only does it benefit businessmen, but it has also helped customers to shop through simple scrolling and a few clicks on their gadgets. As a matter of fact, customers’ satisfaction with the online products and services is the one thing that boosts the popularity of this new way of shopping. People in the Philippines are a part of those happy online shoppers. It is no wonder that there are at least these ten most visited e-commerce websites in the country.

1. Lazada

Serving as the one stop shopping solution in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, this site has been known as one of the online e-commerce giants in Southeast Asia. It offers a wide range of products, such as home appliances, gadgets and fashion. The products come from different brands and the site gives its customers several payment methods to choose from. With more than the estimated average monthly traffic of seventy million Internet users visiting the online marketplace, its dominance in the Philippines is undeniable.

Due to the popularity, this site originally founded by Rocket Internet was then acquired by Alibaba in 2016.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 70,600,000

2. OLX

OLX Philippines is one of the biggest buy and sell community in the country. On OLX, users can sell and buy second-hand items – from used cars to gadgets or furniture. You can also find a house or condo for rent or for sale.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 18,200,000

3. Shopee Philippines

With more than nine million monthly visitors, Shopee is the third most popular site in the Philippines. Providing a good marketplace for retailers to ‘meet’ buyers and help them settle the deals through its escrow system and customer reviews, purchases made on this online platform are considered trust worthy and thus, it encourages people to use its service.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 9,400,000

4. Cebu Pacific

Philippine airline company Cebu Pacific launched in 1996, but took off in earnest as a low-cost carrier in the mid-2000s. It has since offered customers discounted etickets they can purchase online using a credit card. It was one of the early local ecommerce options in the Philippines, and continues to be patronized by consumers for its promos.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 8,650,000

5. Zalora

Well known for its dominant market share in fashion retail industry, the site has been operating in various Asian countries: the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The company’s partnership with global brands, like Mango and H&M, has made it possible to reach the fourth position of top shopping sites in the Philippines with website traffic at around three million every month.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 3,500,000

6. Metrodeal

Who does not like coupons, discounted items and that sort of better deals? This e-commerce site accomodates such wishes. With its specialization in offering good deals for leisure, food, and travelling, it successfully expands to Indonesia and it is now also developing its operations inThailand.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 3,051,944

7. Globe Online Shop

Reaching almost one million monthly traffic*, this virtual e-commerce platform specializing in electronic hardwares and gadgets is highly regarded as a part of the Globe Corporation, which is one of the prominent companies in the Philippines.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 2,100,000

8. eBay Philippines

Although it was originally created to be the meeting place for consumers, the site has been expanded to facilitate companies selling their products to customers in eBay stores. This creates more hectic traffic as many as 1,850,000 monthly visits.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 1,850,000

9. CDR King

Quite similar to Villman Computers, CDR King, which is a local retail chain company, provides an official website for its customers to shop online. Reputed for its discounted offers on electronics, computer hardware, gadgets and the accessories, this site monthly traffic is at around 580,000.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 580,000

10. Galleon.ph

Providing imported goods from the USA and China, that are not available in the Philippines, to the people in the country, Galleon.ph is estimated to attract around 500,000 visitors per month. The benefit of shopping via this online platform is that even if the product you are looking for(from the USA or China) is not currently available on the web, you can send an email asking for help to get that specific product. As written on its web, the company promises to get the product for you as long as it is from either one of the two foreign countries. Another plus point of this site is that it applies the all in price, which already includes taxes, customs, and delivery.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 510,000

11. Villman Computers

Having less visits at around 390,000 than CDR King, the online website highly focusing on gadgets, computer hardware, and mobile devices allows its customers to buy their products via the Internet in spite of the existence of its real retail shops.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): 390,000

12. WeeMall

Just like any other online shop, WeeMall .com is a gateway for unique and branded products that goes from fashion to gadgets. It has various payment option platforms as well as same day delivery through Speed Delivery service.

Monthly Traffic Estimate (January 2018): N/A

The Anatomy of a Filipino Employee: What Makes Them Worth Investing In

October 26, 2017 By FAQ Leave a Comment

The Philippines that was once a Commonwealth under the United States has risen as one of the top outsourcing destination in the world. All thanks to Filipinos who are known for their skills, talents, and work ethic as well.

Here’s an interesting fact: Filipinos is 3rd in Asia when it comes to english proficiency. No wonder why foreign investors are establishing a business in the Philippines.

In this infographic, we’re going to go over various qualities and facts what makes Filipinos one of the most preferred employees in the world. Here’s what you need to know about Filipinos.

Top 10 Richest People in the Philippines

October 18, 2015 By Lyza R. Sabornido 2 Comments

Even if the Philippines is a poor country, there are still a few people here who excelled in the world of business and became billionaires. You want to find out who those people are and how much they are worth?

Here is the list of this year’s Top 10 richest people in the Philippines: [Read more…]

The 10 Poorest Provinces in the Philippines

October 14, 2015 By Lyza R. Sabornido 22 Comments

Artesian well in Mercedes, Eastern Samar, one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines.

The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) will be commemorating the National Week for Overcoming Extreme Poverty from October 17-23, 2015 with the theme, “Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination”.

The said event is in accordance to the Presidential Proclamation No. 269 series of 1993, declaring October 17 as National Day for Overcoming Extreme Poverty, and Presidential Proclamation No. 717, series of 2004, declaring October 17-23 as National Week for Overcoming Extreme Poverty. It is likewise in line with the United Nations’ “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty” on October 17, 2015. This is conducted to encourage various sectors to help in putting an end to poverty.

According to NAPC, poverty incidence in 2014 increased to 25.8%. Meaning, 1 in 4 Filipinos lives in poverty (20% or 1 out of 5 Filipino families) which is 1.2% higher compared to the 2013 first semester poverty statistics. The higher count of poor people is because food prices and the result of super typhoon Yolanda.

What is poverty incidence? It is the proportion of poor individuals/families to the population; those whose income fall below the poverty threshold or those who cannot afford to provide for their basic needs.

To be considered non-poor, a family with 5 members must earn at least P8, 778 a month. An individual also needs to earn at least P10, 534 for six months so he or she won’t be considered poor.

Following are the Top 10 provinces in the Philippines that have the highest poverty incidence among families from 2006 to 2012: [Read more…]