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Ventures thrive selling goods electronically
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
The Philippine Daily Inquirer
September 5, 2003

Nearly everything is sold on the Internet these days- from specialized dog food to custom made shirts. Just a few years ago, many made millions from the dot.com boom. And many lost too from the dot.com bust. 

But the necessity of the Internet to business these days is a given.

Business Monday recently talked with three firms that have tapped the Internet to further their business.

Filgifts.com

Filgifts.com began full operations in 2001 amid the dot-com crash.

"We believed that e-commerce was viable if you had a niche market to serve and you offered value for your customers' money," Filgifts managing partner Gerry Ditching explains in an interview.

Filgifts.com targets overseas contract workers (sic) who wanted to send gifts to their families in the Philippines.

"Presently we have a selection of around 1,500 gift items conveniently pre-sorted for easy browsing. All these products are warehoused right at the heart of Metro Manila which enables us to charge lower freight costs."

Filgifts.com targets these overseas Filipinos through portal www.yehey.com and ads in the United States as well as in the www.inq7.net website.

"We recognize that the business has to be sustained over the long term before we can make money. Amazon, for instance, only started to make money after 10 years," Ditching says.

He adds that Filgifts.com has been able to get a lot of orders from OFWs (sic) because of the convenience that Filgifts.com offers.

Among the most popular products are goodie boxes during Christmas, toys, and flowers during the Valentine season.

"We are breaking even right now, hopefully by the end of the year or in two years we will start turning in a profit," Ditching says.

As much as 90 percent of its buyers come from overseas, but Ditching says Filgifts hopes to expand the local market this year, especially with the introduction of the Yehey payplus facility.

The facility allows the Internet user both here and abroad to use their local ATMs to purchase products online instead, of the usual credit card.

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