E commerce on Social Media - Philippines 2014

1. E-commerce chatter on Social Media
Geography – Philippines
Date Range 1st Jan’2014 to 31st Mar’2014

2. Research Methodology
Our approach
We listened to conversations and collected the data
automatically from a corpus of several million sites,
Collection was done on the basis of requirement defined
by combinations of keywords. The data was then ran
through a layer of text-mining tool to remove noise, refine
sentiment and refining themes.
Time Frame: Jan 1, 2014 to Mar 31st , 2014
Multilayered Refinement
The purpose of this report is to examine Ecommerce chatters on the web, the key drivers of conversation around the market and Industry, causes of
negative and positive brand mentions, and identify key trends and mindset of people hosting these conversations.
Objectives
Collection
Report
Analysis
Articles and comments were then evaluated by researchers
after removing noise, there from assessing sentiment
(negative, positive, neutral and ambivalent of the sample
selected) and structuring the information into themes.
Which indulged manual as well as automated processes to
derive qualitative and quantitative analyses of the results
to identify the trends in discussions threads.
Present all the results from the analysis in this report
From the total relevant
universe sample was selected
for analysis through Stratified
Random Sampling – Data
captured across all dates and
social media channels,
Analysis done through semi
manual process which also
involves extrapolation of multi
tagged tonality & themes
•Million of web sources
Multi-level iterations to build
comprehensive and relevant
queries
•Derived through removal of
irrelevant content such as ad
links, irrelevant postings etc.
through a combination of
human analysis and text mining
Relevant Universe
58910
Sample
Analyzed
2844

3. Philippines – E-Commerce
It’s said every industry’s future lies in the hands of the youth of their
country. Keeping this in mind here’s an attempt to quantify what
PHILIPPINES’ youth talk about E-Commerce as an industry“ ”
E-Commerce
Relevant Universe
58,910
(JAN - MAR 2014)
N= 2,844
(Sampling done further at 5%, n = 2,844)
Corporate
News
PromotionsPaymentDelivery
Customer
Care
Product
Line

4. Our Methodology
STEP 1: SELECT
CRITERIA FOR THE
STUDY
STEP 2: INDUSTRY
SEGMENTATION &
CATEGORIZATION,
DEMOGRAPHIC
BIFURCATION - AGE,
GENDER, etc.
STEP 3:
CATEGORY & SUB
CATEGORY WISE
SENTIMENT
 Product Line
 Customer Care
 Deals
 Payment
 Delivery
1.CATEGORY
a. SUBCATEGORY
+ve
-ve
Neutral
KEY INSIGHTS
INDUSTRY – E-COMMERCE
GEO - PHILIPPINES
DURATION - 1stJan -31st Mar, 2014
SOURCES – Twitter, Blogs,
Forums, News & other Social
Media Channels
THOUGHTBUZZ ANALYTICS

5. E-Commerce PHILIPPINES chatter revolves around..
• Travel/Airlines
• Entertainment
Tickets
• Transportation/
Vehicles
• Apparel
• Electronics
• Food
• Books
• Real Estate
• Personal Care
• Online Gifting
•Customer Query
•Response
•Complaint
•Gratitude
•Quality
•Pending Reply
•Promptness
•Awareness of Service
•Delivery Charged
•Misplaced
•Free Home Delivery
•On time
•Delayed
• Credit Card
• Payment options
• Bank Deposit
• Paypal
• Debit Card
• Cash on Delivery
• G-cash
• Promos
• Discounts
• Coupons
• Freebies
Corporate
News
DeliveryPayment
Customer
Care
Promotion
Product
Line
• Merger &
Acquisition
• Market News
• Product &
Branding
Strategies
• Corporate News

6. Philippine
E-commerce
Product &
Services 78%
Customer
Care 15%
Promotions
4%
Payment 1%
Key Discussions – Overview
“ • Products and services that were sold online in the
Philippines make up most of the E-commerce buzz in
the country. Majority of these mentions were about
airlines and travel-related services.
• Nearly 2 out of 10 of all the conversations were
about customer support, which include interactions
between the official social media accounts and the
companies’ customers.
• Promotions constitute 4% of the total E-commerce
discussions, which include promo announcements,
discounts, freebies and coupons.
• Conversations about payment amount to 1% of the
total E-commerce mentions. Most of these were
inquiries about online payments.
• 1% of all the discussions were about deliveries that
were made for online purchases. The greatest
number of these were about awareness of such
service.
• 1% of the buzz around E-Commerce are general E-
Commerce articles such as corporate news,
mergers, and acquisitions of businesses.
Delivery 1%
“Three out of every four
discussions was about product &
services sold online.”
Corporate News 1%

7. Product Types – E-Commerce PHILIPPINES
All of the observed forums threads, tweets, blogs & news
& network feeds were related to online product lines in
the Philippines.
• Majority (52%) of the product line discussions were
related to Travel and Airlines. Airlines utilize their Twitter
pages to advertise their promotion fares. It has been
noted that netizens follow official Twitter pages of airlines
in order to be notified about promos and deals, they also
seek assistance with various online booking concerns
from these Twitter accounts.
• 18% of the total buzz was about entertainment tickets.
Most mentions were about buying and ordering concert
tickets. Some of were about buying movie, sports and
event (e.g. plays, etc.) tickets online.
• 10% of the discussions were about transportation and/or
vehicles. Almost all mentions regarding transportation
were on taxi booking apps,(how to avail, advertisements,
and customer service-related queries).
• Apparel-related mentions make up 7% of the total buzz.
Most mentions were tweets endorsing certain online shop
pages. Some endorse their own shops and some endorse
other online shops.
• 5% of mentions were about electronics. Netizens use
Twitter to ask and recommend where to buy certain
electronic products. They also use Twitter to inquire and
order products from online sellers.
Treavel /
Airlines, 52%
Entertainment Tickets,
18%
Transportation/
Vehicles, 10%
Apparel, 7%
Electronics, 5%
Food, 3%
Books, 3%
Real Estate, 2%
Personal Care, 1%
Online gifting, 0%
PRODUCT
RELATED
2247

8. Product Types – Sample Mentions
Travel/ Airlines
Dated (4 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/CarnavanT/st
atuses/441074543151820800
Entertainment Tickets
Dated (27 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/viccastillo/st
atuses/449332759794679808
Transportation/Vehicles
Dated (12 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/hazelnutzy/st
atuses/443993817994117120
Apparel
Dated (26 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/RhowDanny
Glark/statuses/448755961256087
552

9. Key Age Groups – Bifurcation taken for the study
Less than 25 Years
Intermediates, College going,
Fresher's to the Corporates
25-40 Years
Manager level, newly
married, Young Parents
Greater than 40 Years
Senior Level, Parents of teenagers and
adult kids
 People of these age group were
more interested in apparel and
concert tickets.
 Apart from apparels and tickets,
people of this age group were also
interested in online gifting.
 No data was recorded for those whose
age is greater than 40. This may be
indicative that younger Filipinos are
more active E-commerce participants.
69% of the observed
31% of the observed
0% of the observed
N = 2844

10. Gender Analysis – Bifurcation taken for the study
Females were almost 6% more active than males
47% 53%
• For both genders, majority of conversations have been inquiries about airlines and books. Females tend to
share details about events and movie tickets, while males tend to make remarks about transportation-
related concerns.
N = 2844

11. Gender affinity towards Top Product Lines
 Females tend to participate the most in E-commerce discussions about apparels. This is followed
by tickets, wherein females make articles detailing events.
 Males tend to participate in discussions about electronics, which are mostly purchase
transactions of gadgets. This is followed by discussions about transportation and vehicles.
N = 2844
50%
38%
58%
25%
69%
50%
62%
42%
75%
31%
1 2 3 4 5Travel/Airlines Tickets Transportation/Vehicles Apparel ElectronicsTravel / Airlines Transport / Vehicles

12. Top E-Commerce Categories – Gender Bifurcation
 Females were more concerned in discussions related to delivery of online products. Females
were also interested in online promotions.
 Males were predominantly interested in discussions about online products and services, customer
support and the process of paying online.
N = 2844
47% 48%
20%
47%
38%
53% 52%
80%
53%
62%
1 2 3 4 5Product/Services Customer Support Delivery Payment PromotionsProduct / Services

13. Customer
Query, 75%
Response, 18.8%
Complaint, 2.8%
Gratitude, 1.5%
Quality, 1.3%
Pending Reply, 0.4%
Promptness, 0.4%
Customer Support Related Key Discussions
Almost every second E-commerce
discussion in the Philippines were
related to customer support.
• Three quarters of the discussions on
customer service were comprised of
customer queries. Almost all of these
queries were sent through Twitter.
• The second highest bulk of discussions
were the responses of the online store
customer service teams to the customer
queries.
• There were only a few complaints (2.8%) –
mostly about delays in replying and
website issues (outage, failed processing) –
and general expressions of gratitude (1.5%)
in the discussions.
• Some netizens (1.3%) also expressed their
positive assessment of the quality of the
online stores’ customer service responses.
• A few (0.4%) express gratitude for the
promptness of the reply of brands.
• A few (0.4%) also contact the respective
brands to express that no one is replying to
their queries and complaints.
CUSTOMER
SUPPORT
543

14. Customer Support Sample Mentions
Query
Dated (10 Feb 2014)
https://twitter.com/mannypot/st
atuses/433078502565220352
Response
Dated (22 Jan 2014)
https://twitter.com/CebuPacific
Air/statuses/426208467180060672
Complaint
Dated (1 Jan 2014)
https://twitter.com/baijoanne/st
atuses/418321452245323776
Gratitude
Dated (19 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/C_Sutcliffe/st
atuses/446287823969087488

15. Delivery Related Key Discussions
The least number of E-commerce
discussions were about online deliveries.
Most of these were mere remarks denoting
awareness of online deliveries.
• Around 38% of buzz were about awareness of
delivery services and how it is an advantage
when making online purchases.
• 24% out of the total delivery related discussion
stated that they were charged for the
delivery of goods they ordered.
• About 14% of total delivery discussions were
raised misplaced delivery issues. Many were
unhappy with misplaced goods and some
others were discouraged to buy from certain
stores for they fear that their orders might be
misplaced.
• 10% of the mention are about free home
deliveries. Many customers were encouraged
to buy when free home delivery is a feature of
the web store.
• 10% of the mentions are expressions of
gratitude for deliveries of online products that
were made on time. A few (5%) expressed
that their orders did not arrive on time. This is
particularly observed in food products.
DELIVERY
21
Awareness of
Service, 38%
Delivery Charged, 24%
Misplaced, 14%
Free home
delivery,
10%
On time , 10%
Delayed , 5%

16. Delivery Related Sample Mentions
Awareness of Service
Dated (18 Jan 2014)
https://twitter.com/KFolie_a_Deu
x/statuses/424565937920933890
Delivery Charged
Dated (22 Mar 2014)
http://www.misskatv.com/2014/
03/where-i-got-my-us-air-force-
jacket.html
Misplaced
Dated (27 Jan 2014)
http://www.pinoyexchange.co
m/forums/showthread.php?t=54
3168&page=15#post69313622
On time
Dated (28 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/raefication/st
atuses/449527401563697152

17. Credit card, 41%
Payment Options, 22%
Bank
deposit, 16%
Paypal, 9%
Debit card, 6%
Cash on Delivery, 3%
G-cash, 3%
Payment Related Key Discussions
Payment buzz constitute 1% of the total E-
commerce discussions. Most were inquiries and
instructions on the process of online payment.
• Credit Cards: The greatest number (41%) of the
comments were observed around credit card
acceptance.
• 22% of netizens were merely asking about their
choices regarding payment.
• Bank deposit: About 16% of the customers were
inquiring about how they could deposit their
money directly to the bank without having to
transact online.
• PayPal: 9% of the payment-related mentions were
about customers requesting and/or asking for
establishments to incorporate PayPal into their
payment system.
• Debit cards: 6% of the mentions were inquiries
about debit card rejections.
• Cash on Delivery (COD): 3% of the payment
mentions were about COD, with customers
recommending online stores who have a COD
feature to their online followers.
• G-cash: 3%, a small amount of the discussion
online was about G-cash, with the netizens asking
if they could pay for their products with G-cash.
PAYMENT
32

18. Payment Related Sample Mentions
Credit Card
Dated (31 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/GRLONDON/
statuses/450580493323350016
Payment options
Dated (18 Feb 2014)
https://twitter.com/HellYeahCriss
e/statuses/435768614654734337
Bank Deposit
Dated (13 Feb 2014)
https://twitter.com/timeepatrol/s
tatuses/434229971758768129
PayPal
Dated (19 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/clevearguell
es/statuses/446330203690651649

19. Promotions Key Discussions
E-commerce promotions conversations
make up 5% of all the mentions, which
were about promos, discounts, coupons
and freebies.
• Around 40% of the discussions were related to
online promos created by web stores, (mostly
airlines) in order to increase sales. These
mentions detail particular online contests or
deals that users may participate in.
• Discounts make up around 30% of the
discussions on deals. Discounts were explicitly
stated price cuts from products. Most discounts
come from the travel and airline products.
• Around 27% of the other discussions were
related to coupons. Mentions on coupons were
commonly from transportation, personal care,
food, and travel. Users detail spending the
coupon, where they obtained particular
coupons, and the benefits that these coupons
have such as discounts and freebies.
• Only 2% was related to freebies given away by
different online stores. Freebie mentions are
explicit expressions of gratitude after receiving
a freebie from a certain brand.
Promos, 40%
Discounts, 30%
Coupons, 27%
Freebies, 2%
PROMOTIONS
142

20. Promotions Sample Mentions
Promo
Dated (5 Mar 2014)
https://twitter.com/montree9/st
atus/441493330883399680
Discounts
Dated (9 Feb 2014)
https://twitter.com/davidjonesc
ua/statuses/43252775215183872
1
Coupons
Dated (31 Jan 2014)
https://twitter.com/eenelia/statu
s/429530114729074688
Freebies
Dated (15 Feb 2014)
https://twitter.com/thatsmyjela/s
tatuses/434668091046649856

21. WHAT DO THE CORPORATES SAY?
“Travel/Airlines Top 5 Brands”
DISCUSSED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Key Findings:
TRENDING :
• A high number of discussions about these brands
were related to customer support (26%) and most
(65%) of these mentions were queries about these
specific brands, followed by responses from the
brands (26%) and complaints (4%).
ISSUES :
• Netizens tweet the airlines that their websites were
down for days due to booking overloads (specifically
for Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines).
• Complaints have been recorded for the lack of
updates (electronic or otherwise) about delayed and
cancelled flights.
• Netizens tweet about bad customer relations for
Philippine Airlines and Air Asia, for no one answers
their hotlines.
• On-time deliveries have been recorded both for
Philippine Airlines and Agoda.
• Payment-related concerns include problems with the
online payment system of Cebu Pacific Air and
declined credit card issues for Philippine Airlines.
Some request payment through specific banks.
EMERGING :
• Promos and booking discounts encourage netizens’
participation, such as Twitter promos where they
retweet hotel and plane booking deals.
44%
26%
22%
5%
4%
Air Asia
Cebu Pacific
Philippine Airlines
Tiger Air
Agoda

22. 46%
40.4%
12.1%
1.3%
0.3%
Ticketnet
SM Tickets
Ticketworld
Sureseats
7107 IMF
WHAT DO THE CORPORATES SAY?
“Entertainment Tickets Top 5 Brands”
DISCUSSED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Key Findings:
TRENDING :
• A high number (11%) of the buzz about these brands
were related to customer support, and most of which
were queries (93%) followed by the responses of the
ticket brands (7%).
ISSUES :
• Netizens tweet the brands asking about ticket prices
of the events they would like attend. Complaints
include prompts for the brands to update their price
lists in their respective sites specifically recorded for
SM tickets.
• Complaints have also been gathered about non-
response of specific brands to queries about ticket
availability.
• Netizens tweet that they cannot book tickets due to
website outages (SM Tickets and Sureseats).
• Payment-related concerns include disappointment
for the exclusive availability of tickets online and not
in the venue itself. These frustrations mainly came
from non-credit card owners because it is the only
means of payment for such sites.
EMERGING :
• There seem to be little awareness about the process
of buying tickets online. Netizens ask other users on
how to purchase online tickets.

23. WHAT DO THE CORPORATES SAY?
“Transportation/Vehicles Top 3 Brands”
DISCUSSED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Key Findings:
TRENDING :
• A number (8%)of all mentions about these
transportation brands were related to customer
service, and all of these customer service mentions
were queries.
ISSUES :
• Complaints that have been recorded include the
arrival of a car that was not the one requested online
(Uber). Other complaints were focused on the
specific car drivers.
• Some users have also reported not being able to
download or install the application. This was
specifically recorded for Uber.
• Payment-related concerns include tweets asking if
there are other payment methods that may be used
aside from Paypal.
EMERGING :
• Users seem to be hesitant when booking cars online
because of the safety risks such online services pose.
Netizens ask specific brands about the process of
booking and whether cars can be tracked remotely.
There also seem to be little awareness about the
specific areas serviced by online taxi-booking apps.
44%
26%
22%
Uber Manila
Grab Taxi
Easy Taxi

24. WHAT DO THE CORPORATES SAY?
“Apparels Top 3 Brands”
DISCUSSED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Key Findings:
TRENDING :
• The greatest number of online apparel brands were
online stores by individuals retailing various larger
apparel brands.
• Many of the total mentions about these brands were
related to promotions (9%). The greatest number
(50%) of these online promotions are promos made
by these apparel stores.
ISSUES :
• Payment-related issues include a netizen making a
review that compares credit cards versus debit cards
in online shopping. The user recommended debit
cards over credit cards for they are less-risky to use.
• Other concerns include inquiries about the amount of
custom tax that will be required from ordering
apparel online from foreign brands.
EMERGING :
• Upstart online shop owners are asking established
brands about ordering goods for their online apparel
shops. On the other hand, online shoppers ask large
brands for specific online stores that retail such
brands.
44%
26%
22%
Online Stores
Bench
Zalora

25. WHAT DO THE CORPORATES SAY?
“Electronics Top 5 Brands”
DISCUSSED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Key Findings:
TRENDING :
• Some mentions about these brands are related to
customer service (6%), all of which were inquiries
about specific brands.
ISSUES :
• Complaints include netizens tweeting that they
would like a specific phone model from the online
store, but no one answers when following up the
status of the delivery, or if they have the specific
phone model inquired.
• Netizens talk in forums about cases of fraud in
ordering cellphones from, i.e., not delivering the
ordered gadget. It was also talked about that the
delivery people were reported to ask for “tips.” Lastly,
there were reports of broken gadgets delivered. This
was specifically recorded for Kimstore, dubbed as
“notorious,” by the netizens.
EMERGING :
• Netizens start forums comparing the online stores in
terms of reliability. Users are careful in choosing the
online stores to buy their desired gadgets, and they
value the credibility of the electronic stores primarily
in terms if the quality of delivery, especially the
warranty for broken gadgets.
88%
5%
2%
2%
2%
Kimstore
Sulit.com
Lazada
Widget City
CMK

26. FINAL TAKEAWAYS
1
.
PRODUCTS and SERVICES were the main e-Commerce topic:
Netizens were more involved in discussions that focus on the product and/or service rather than
those which come after buying the product (i.e., customer care, delivery, or payment). This is
indicative of the importance that must be placed on the customers‘ initial impression of a product
sold online.
YOUNGER GENERATIONS were more participative in E-commerce:
The more established 25 to 40 year olds were more interested in online gifting services while
netizens 25 years old and below were particularly interested in buying apparel and tickets. Online
gifting services may be made easier to attract those that belong to the upper age brackets.
2
.3
.4
.
Promotions make up 5% of the total E-commerce buzz:
Online promotions were mostly on the promos of specific brands. These encourage participation,
such as the case of retweets of content about discounts. Majority of positive sentiments also come
from deal-related topics.
5
Payment-related concerns signal the need for OTHER METHODS to be
incorporated in the online payment system:
Majority of negative mentions about brands were related to payment. Users who would like to
buy express disappointment in systems that solely utilize credit cards prohibiting them from
purchasing. Brands may explore other payment systems to grow their market.
A significant number of online stores are SOLE PROPRIETORSHIPS:
Sole proprietorship stores are specifically apparent in apparel products. Netizens express
awareness of online stores, but are hesitant to buy because of issues of credibility. Netizens value
the reputation of a store and are keen to listen for advice regarding the quality of products.

27. Thank You
This report and the information contained there in are based on information from online social media and other publicly available data. ThoughtBuzz
does not warrant the accuracy of such information nor is ThoughtBuzz responsible for the content and accuracy of such information. Advisory
information may be contained in the report. Any subsequent decisions made based on the data must be made after proper review and assessment of
the impact of such information. In no event shall ThoughtBuzz be liable to you or your company for any lost profits, lost revenue, interest, goodwill,
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