Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Challenges Faced by the Electronics Industry in the Philippines
-
- Product Lifecycle
- Logistics Management
- Payment Complexities
- Cybersecurity
3. Solutions that Work Best for the Electronic Industry in Philippines
-
- Manage your Warehouse
- Integrate your Logistics
- Clear Payments
- Keep it Safe and Limited
4. Let’s Unlock the Potential of the Electrical Industry in Philippines
A country of islands, the Philippines has dominated its economy with electronics, and e-commerce is no exception! Do you know? The top three most product selling categories on leading marketplaces belong to the electronics industry. Starting with Gadgets, followed by home-office electronics, and then second-hand electronics, people choose to buy it all with a click! But before that, let’s address some of the questions together.
We don’t buy electronics like we buy toothpaste. It’s not just about the flavor and quantity you need to see; we rely on in-depth research! How many days does a consumer spend researching before that one click? Do they blindly trust that your valuable gadget will be shipped safely? Knowing that the brand has nothing to do with the person who will deliver your product. What if they receive a damaged product or the wrong device model? Will they return it? Will that be an easy process for them? And the trail goes on and on….
As a seller, you have to give answers to all these questions of your consumers if you are dealing in electronics. It’s the trust that consumers take their time before they invest in buying an electronic gadget online. Hence, despite being the leading industry, the challenges are undeniable. It’s not an easy product to sell online.
Let’s examine this picture deeply and see what’s happening in the Philippines’ e-commerce electronics industry.
Challenges Faced by the Electronics Industry in the Philippines
1. Product Lifecycle
Just like time never stops, there’s no saturation point for electronics. It’s a constant cycle of updates and new features, which means new products will be regularly updated in the market. This fast pace demands an efficient operational cycle for market sales. This becomes a task when it has to be maintained in the warehouse.
For instance, the hype for new Apple iPhones is one of a kind! People wait for them, and stockouts are common at those points. But that doesn’t mean that the model launched last year is now a waste! It has to be stored safely to effectively meet its own demand.
The ‘new launches’ in high demand always rush out of the carts, and the slightly old products that still get sold must be managed and handled with care. Every product has its requirements, so catering to those is essential. If anything happens to the product, the cost and profits associated with high pricing are killed right there!
2. Logistics Limitations
Electronics and logistics might not be each other’s favorite, but they go absolutely hand in hand. The leading marketplaces in the Philippines, whose top selling categories are consumer electronics, offer the fastest deliveries. Platforms like Lazada even prefer to offer same-day delivery to their customers. It becomes a challenge for the sellers to manage the logistics to match the pattern.
Making the order reach your customer faster doesn’t only mean making it run rather than walk. Speed is one factor, but it’s also the smart allocation of the best logistics required for a particular pincode. Hence, managing your logistics is one of the challenges you will face in catering to the rapid expectation of delivery nowadays.
3. Payment Complexities
Payments are higher for consumer electronics like smartphones, gaming consoles, laptops, and home appliances. Not every customer feels comfortable paying online, so the dependency on cash-on-delivery increases. This dependency varies based on customers and the touchpoints you choose to sell in the Philippine market.
Secondly, if the customer returns or exchanges the product, the logistics cost increases accordingly, increasing the risk of fraud. This also creates a window where the packaging, shipping, and other charges get involved again, and the track can get lost. It’s very easy to slide your profits at stages like this. Can you bridge this gap and track payments for these costly products?
4. Cybersecurity
When we talked about trust earlier in this blog, it was not just limited to the cost and authenticity of the product. Data is the most important and precious in the world of online shopping. You don’t want to mess with that and upset your customers. Security is required when customers provide information and make a payment.
Data security is essential for both sellers and customers. When selling on different platforms, you and your system interact with marketplaces, logistics, customers, aggregators, etc. Is your system smart enough to limit information and its access?
Solutions That Work Best for the Electronics Industry in the Philippines
We had no intention of bombarding you with challenges, but we have also discovered some intelligent approaches to solving them! Without wasting any words, let’s dive directly into them!
1. Manage Your Warehouse
If you have ever faced stockouts for products in high demand and overstocking for the ones that are not the latest but are to be sold, then you need a system to bridge the gap between these. Good procurement management is something that comes under warehouse management. It will automate your process of letting your vendor know what and how much you need right on time. That means no more missing sales.
The management of the warehouse smoothens the cycle count seamlessly. It is the first essential step that facilitates logistics, as it helps with fast sorting and packing.
[Best E-commerce Warehouse Management System (WMS)]
2. Integrate your Logistics
Once everything is sorted and packed at your warehouse, it should reach its destination as fast as possible. In marketplaces pushing their limits to deliver like hyperlocal, everything has to be advanced. Features like ‘smart facility allocation’ are crucial for geographies like the Philippines, where marketplaces like Lazada promise deliveries as fast as within 24 hours.
Integrate your system with the best providers according to the geographies and leave it to them. For example, You can set an allocation rule like Partner 1 for the regions in the northern part of the country and Partner 2 for the southern regions. After setting the rule, the system will allocate the partners accordingly.
3. Clear Payments
We often use and assume that some inventory gets lost when we sell on a large scale. But no one wants to afford that while selling the latest, costly electronic gadgets. Whenever the product sets its journey from the warehouse, it possesses the chance of exchange and return. The packing and the charges applied by the marketplace are wasted.
Some marketplaces also offer their own delivery services, which are chargeable along with the commission structure and other fees. Keeping track of all of it is a task! You don’t want to experience the gadget’s cost as a loss and your customer’s disappointment. Therefore, every charge has to be tracked and reached out to you. An advanced reconciliation tool quickly changes the challenge into an opportunity to track every penny’s discrepancy and raise issues when and where needed—all automated!
[Best E-commerce Inventory Management Software in Philippines]
4. Keep it Safe and Limited!
Managing your data is responsible for making the product reach the customer. When I say and mention ‘smart solution,’ that means the one that is not entirely accessible to everyone involved in the process. If your vendor communicates with you for the procurement, they should not have access to what orders you are receiving. But at the same time, how will you work with them without giving them any access?
Therefore, you should look for panel-friendly solutions. You, your vendor, and the warehouse workers can track working efficiency and the degree of access yourself.
Let’s Unlock the Potential of the Electrical Industry in the Philippines!
Challenges accompany businesses in every part of the world, and the electrical industry of the Philippines is no exception. Their approach and presence are no wonder that they have its stand in the global scenario. However, staying with the Western economies will require you to overstep the probabilities and face the challenges smartly.
In e-commerce, when we say smart, we mean smart tech! So, investing in the right solutions will solve all your challenges. Happy selling, Philippines!
Related read: