Ideas & Opportunities

Christmas is just a few weeks away and so is school break for most students who will be on vacation for at least two weeks. While most bazaars are now in full swing, students can still try their entrepreneurial hands by putting up their store online.

In helping break down barriers for entrepreneurs, social networking sites have allowed even students to become successful entrepreneurs. In 2007, Andrea Maralit, then a high school student, set up ANDIEniably Fab with a capital of P40,000 from her parents. Maralit was always interested in designing and creating custom jewelry and accessories, and decided to put up an online store to indulge her passion for fashion and earn at the same time.

If you plan to continue your entrepreneurial projects online even after the holiday season, Entrepreneur.com.ph listed down some tips that can help you with your endeavors.

•Logistics and payment partners.
In using Multiply as her platform, Maralit took immense care to differentiate herself from fly-by-night online stores by partnering with logistics firms and payment gateways to streamline her orders and payments and professionalize her operation.

This, she says, is important since she also gets orders from international clients who  want to be sure they are dealing with legitimate online stores.

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•Best in sales.
Maralit also maintains online stores on chictopia.com and ebay.ph. But she says that in terms of sales, the Multiply store is the best. Given the presence of other fashion businesses on Multiply, the key to success, she says, is differentiation. That’s why she takes care to ensure that her designs are as unique as possible.

Like brick and mortar stores, online stores are also susceptible to seasonal factors like school openings and vacations, says Maralit. From June to September, her sales are lower due to the school-opening period; consequently, sales are higher in the summer and Christmas.

Despite the popularity of other social networking sites like Facebook, Multiply remains a relevant e-commerce platform, Maralit says. She considers Facebook to be geared toward more personal interactions, while Multiply is more suitable for commerce.

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