5 Creative Ways OLX.ph & Istorya.net Grew Their Businesses

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[Harold's Hotel, Cebu] In the first TechTalks.ph Kapihan, the two special guests from online marketplace players, OLX.ph & Istorya.net, mentioned that one of their major challenges was the Philippine internet infrastructure. This is best discussed in the article of Mia Aznar printed in Sun.Star, "Online needs mirror offline ones: Better infra, please."

"Gerald Yuvallos, founder of Istorya.net, said the poor quality of the country’s Internet infrastructure is one of the challenges faced by online-based services.

He said the government needs to provide support and the right infrastructure to make the quality of Internet services more reliable. In that way, it will encourage more people to go online to buy or sell items." via Click here to read full article..

But despite the challenge in this core factor of their online business, it did not deter a David (Istorya.net) and a Goliath (OLX.ph) of the online marketplaces to thrive on. During the 1st TechTalks.ph Kapihan, Maria Regina Aguilar (OLX.ph) and Gerald Yuvallos (Istorya.net) gave us wonderful insights on how each of them grew their businesses in spite of the challenges.

Here are some of creative ways they grew their respective businesess. To learn more, watch the full-length video of the discussion here >>.

1. Empower the people through brand ambassadors. The OLX.ph has network of ambassadors that are sent out to different barangays to educate the people about using OLX.ph to buy and sell products. Users are introduced to the concept of entrepreneurship which can be now done easier thru the OLX.ph platform. These brand ambassadors allow OLX.ph to recruit valuable listers and buyers, but also allows them to gather in-depth knowledge of their users.

2. Take care of the community. On the other hand, Istorya.net - which first started as an online forum - created the "Buy and Sell" section when they noticed that many of their members were trading products and services within their forum. Istorya.net created the specific category to make it easier for their community to conduct these services as well to add some protection to the buyers and sellers.

Maria Regina Aguilar of OLX.ph offered that they were launching an OLX.ph meet-up hub in their Cebu Business Park office on March 27, 2015. This is to provide a safe venue for the sellers and buyers to do their business transactions.

3. Go big, or go home. From merging with sulit.ph.com to ayosdito.ph, this is probably one of the boldest mergers to happen in the Philippine web entrepreneurship scene. This action by OLX.ph probably gave them a solid first mover advantage, and a good grip on majority share of the online sellers. With all these popular brands now under one umbrella, OLX.ph appears to have more resources and energy to focus on the most valuable area of their business -- getting more users on board.

4. Actively waiting. On the other hand, Gerald Yuvallos of Istorya.net claimed that they did not have the budget to aggressively recruit users compared to OLX.ph. Therefore, Istorya.net chose to let the giants move first, while they wait for Philippine users to be more educated and ready to take on the online marketplace. But, in the background, Istorya.net is likely building up their strength in community building, and dabbling in other areas of the web entrepreneurship. This strategy allows them to explore other opportunities for growth.

5. They focus on the "possible." They do not let government policies and TELCO issues stop them from conducting business. There are probably 101 excuses why their businesses should not make it. But do they care about these issues? Yes, of course. But they still continue on and summon their creative juices to tackle the challenges. One may be very aggressive in doing it, the other one may be taking it one-step-at-a-time but nevertheless, they "just do it".

Want to learn more from Aguilar and Yuvallos? Listen to the full-length discussion during 1st TechTalks.ph Kapihan, click video link below. And, don't forget to hit the Subcribe to TechTalks.ph youtube account.

Want to discuss your business sector during the next Kapihan? Work with TechTalks.ph team, email us at info@techtalks.ph or send us a message here.

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5 Creative Ways OLX.ph & Istorya.net Grew Their Businesses

by Rose Buenconsejo

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