| YOUR FILIPINA WIFE www.yourfilipinawife.com/islandrosenewsflash.html SENDING FLOWERS / GIFTS TO THE PHILIPPINES SEND MY FIANCEE / WIFE / GIRLFRIEND ROSES - MY LOVE filipina wife fiancee / fiance' / girl friend - gifts / roses / flowers to the philippines |
This article was written by Raquel P. Gomez and was published at Philippine
Daily Inquirer.
Modern day prophets of the digital revolution like Vint Cerf (known as the Father of the
Internet and Google’s chief Internet evangelist), predict that the world’s economy and
commerce–the whole gamut of transactions involving money, products, and services–will be
mainly done online.
Online business or selling of products and services over the Internet, allows for people in any
part of the world to conveniently buy products and services at a click of the mouse or a tap of
the screen. Business that go online will be able to grow the business on a global scale,
reaching more markets that in the first place will be physically impossible for them to reach.
Aside from convenience and speed, the Internet could offer a financial goldmine as proven by
established global online businesses like ebay and Amazon.
The Internet as the perfect place for a new business to thrive attracted Dustin Andaya in 2001
and caused the then 30-year-old entrepreneur to start islandrose flower shop, an online retail
shop of flowers.
“At that time, there were only very few local retails onine stores. Most local websites offer
services like Edsamail, but soon these websites were bought by bigger ones. I thought of the
online shop as an addition to my father’s wholesale flower business.”
Andaya’s online flower shop required the services of a courier in order for the flowers that
were ordered by customers on the website to be delivered to recipients. However, Andaya
found it difficult to convince courier establishments to carry his products. They were used to
delivering packages and to deliver a bunch of delicate flowers was not their thing.
By some stroke of luck, a close friend of Andaya opened a courier service. Islandrose became
its very first client.
By 2003, the volume of orders from islandrose dramatically increased, with a bulk of
customers from abroad ordering flowers for their relatives here in the Philippines.
Andaya said soon the courier services began to notice the huge volume and eventually
hooked up with the online flower shop. Today, major couriers like LBC, Aboitiz, DHL and Air21
deliver the flowers. These couriers go thrice a day to islandrose office on dela Rosa street in
Makati City to pick the flowers for delivery to any point in the country. Flowers are usually
delivered the next day, except for orders done before 10 in the morning, which are delivered
on the same day.
Andaya is more than happy with islandrose, an initiative which he could claim as his
“successful online creation.” He said his father’s business was already at its peak in 2001,
having reached the volume of 1 million stems of roses sold in a year. With islandrose, which
retails the flowers planted at the company’s farm in Tagaytay, the volume for roses has
already reached 2 million stems a year.
Andaya shares some tips on how his business managed to thrive online:
The Internet is an equal playing field.
In the Internet businesses are highly competitive , according to Andaya. He said a good
product, whether from a big or small company, will always sell online as consumers can
instantly compare prices and products and decide to buy immediately as well.
Andaya said it is actually cheaper to buy flowers online at islandrose than from physical
shops because prices are lower since customers are actually buying directly from the source.
“One dozen roses from a shop, which bought the flowers wholesale from the farm, would cost
P2,500. A dozen roses ordered form the website would cost only P1,100 including delivery
fee. The prices are cheaper because there’s no middle man.”
Create a website that is “customer-friendly” and relevant enough that search engines like
Google would notice it. It should also convey trust.
Andaya said he wanted the design for islandrose to be simple and clutter-free, with only a top
bar as the only place for the hyperlinked pages. An interesting part of the website is the blog
area that has a lot of interesting articles about flowers, which will help people appreciate the
products. There are tips on flower arrangement, flower photography, or perfect flower gifts.
The website also features a farm tour video (to show customers that the flowers do really
come from the company’s farm), and a testimonials page.
Increase the traffic to your online store through online advertising.
Andaya said an online store like a physical store needs “foot” traffic in order for it to be seen,
visited and recognized by cusotmers. A foot traffic online can be done through online
advertising. Andaya said islandrose paper clips (a text or image hyperlink to the online store)
is present in many Philippine-based news portals like the Inquirer.net. Popular Filipino news
portals are read mostly by overseas Filipinos, who are the major market of islandrose
Expand the business by “networking” with other related businesses.
Andaya said islandrose has also increased its market reach by partnering with other
businesseses like LBC or online gift shops. “Other companies who wish to have flower
deliveries added to their business, we provide that as well.”
Create a loyalty or membership club.
Andaya said islandrose has a rewards membership club. A first time buyer automatically
becomes a member. Next purchases entitle him or her to reward points that can be converted
to discounts on next flower purchases. Newsletters are also emailed to members and notices
of discounted flowers are also provided the members.
Establish an effective payment system.
Payments for orders on the website are done through credit cards. Andaya said last year
islandrose has launched a peso payment system to reach local buyers. “When we launched
our peso payment, the local market peaked up. Now we have a lot of U.S. buyers then the
local buyers.”
Andaya said it was really hard for islandrose to get recognized amid the flobal online players
which have already established huge global markets. “But for a certain market niche, I think
we’re already popular.”
Daily Inquirer.
Modern day prophets of the digital revolution like Vint Cerf (known as the Father of the
Internet and Google’s chief Internet evangelist), predict that the world’s economy and
commerce–the whole gamut of transactions involving money, products, and services–will be
mainly done online.
Online business or selling of products and services over the Internet, allows for people in any
part of the world to conveniently buy products and services at a click of the mouse or a tap of
the screen. Business that go online will be able to grow the business on a global scale,
reaching more markets that in the first place will be physically impossible for them to reach.
Aside from convenience and speed, the Internet could offer a financial goldmine as proven by
established global online businesses like ebay and Amazon.
The Internet as the perfect place for a new business to thrive attracted Dustin Andaya in 2001
and caused the then 30-year-old entrepreneur to start islandrose flower shop, an online retail
shop of flowers.
“At that time, there were only very few local retails onine stores. Most local websites offer
services like Edsamail, but soon these websites were bought by bigger ones. I thought of the
online shop as an addition to my father’s wholesale flower business.”
Andaya’s online flower shop required the services of a courier in order for the flowers that
were ordered by customers on the website to be delivered to recipients. However, Andaya
found it difficult to convince courier establishments to carry his products. They were used to
delivering packages and to deliver a bunch of delicate flowers was not their thing.
By some stroke of luck, a close friend of Andaya opened a courier service. Islandrose became
its very first client.
By 2003, the volume of orders from islandrose dramatically increased, with a bulk of
customers from abroad ordering flowers for their relatives here in the Philippines.
Andaya said soon the courier services began to notice the huge volume and eventually
hooked up with the online flower shop. Today, major couriers like LBC, Aboitiz, DHL and Air21
deliver the flowers. These couriers go thrice a day to islandrose office on dela Rosa street in
Makati City to pick the flowers for delivery to any point in the country. Flowers are usually
delivered the next day, except for orders done before 10 in the morning, which are delivered
on the same day.
Andaya is more than happy with islandrose, an initiative which he could claim as his
“successful online creation.” He said his father’s business was already at its peak in 2001,
having reached the volume of 1 million stems of roses sold in a year. With islandrose, which
retails the flowers planted at the company’s farm in Tagaytay, the volume for roses has
already reached 2 million stems a year.
Andaya shares some tips on how his business managed to thrive online:
The Internet is an equal playing field.
In the Internet businesses are highly competitive , according to Andaya. He said a good
product, whether from a big or small company, will always sell online as consumers can
instantly compare prices and products and decide to buy immediately as well.
Andaya said it is actually cheaper to buy flowers online at islandrose than from physical
shops because prices are lower since customers are actually buying directly from the source.
“One dozen roses from a shop, which bought the flowers wholesale from the farm, would cost
P2,500. A dozen roses ordered form the website would cost only P1,100 including delivery
fee. The prices are cheaper because there’s no middle man.”
Create a website that is “customer-friendly” and relevant enough that search engines like
Google would notice it. It should also convey trust.
Andaya said he wanted the design for islandrose to be simple and clutter-free, with only a top
bar as the only place for the hyperlinked pages. An interesting part of the website is the blog
area that has a lot of interesting articles about flowers, which will help people appreciate the
products. There are tips on flower arrangement, flower photography, or perfect flower gifts.
The website also features a farm tour video (to show customers that the flowers do really
come from the company’s farm), and a testimonials page.
Increase the traffic to your online store through online advertising.
Andaya said an online store like a physical store needs “foot” traffic in order for it to be seen,
visited and recognized by cusotmers. A foot traffic online can be done through online
advertising. Andaya said islandrose paper clips (a text or image hyperlink to the online store)
is present in many Philippine-based news portals like the Inquirer.net. Popular Filipino news
portals are read mostly by overseas Filipinos, who are the major market of islandrose
Expand the business by “networking” with other related businesses.
Andaya said islandrose has also increased its market reach by partnering with other
businesseses like LBC or online gift shops. “Other companies who wish to have flower
deliveries added to their business, we provide that as well.”
Create a loyalty or membership club.
Andaya said islandrose has a rewards membership club. A first time buyer automatically
becomes a member. Next purchases entitle him or her to reward points that can be converted
to discounts on next flower purchases. Newsletters are also emailed to members and notices
of discounted flowers are also provided the members.
Establish an effective payment system.
Payments for orders on the website are done through credit cards. Andaya said last year
islandrose has launched a peso payment system to reach local buyers. “When we launched
our peso payment, the local market peaked up. Now we have a lot of U.S. buyers then the
local buyers.”
Andaya said it was really hard for islandrose to get recognized amid the flobal online players
which have already established huge global markets. “But for a certain market niche, I think
we’re already popular.”
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| YOUR FILIPINA WIFE www.yourfilipinawife.com/islandrosenewsflash.html SENDING FLOWERS / GIFTS TO THE PHILIPPINES SEND MY FIANCEE / WIFE / GIRLFRIEND ROSES - MY LOVE filipina wife fiancee / fiance' / girl friend - gifts / roses / flowers to the philippines |
INTERNATIONAL
TRAVEL
TRAVEL
