Mama Miah!

Success in e-commerce depends on very reliable logistics. It’s not just about moving products from one place to another, but about doing it in the fastest yet most cost-efficient manner is of critical importance, and for a country separated by many islands, this can be highly challenging. 

QuadX is one of the fastest-growing eCommerce tech and logistics service providers in the country. They service all market segments from marketplaces, cross-border commerce, and payment collection and settlement. QuadX is the company behind these brands:  ShippingCart, XPay, and GoGo Xpress.

During the recent media launch of GoGo Xpress with the theme, “Next Level Social Selling with GoGo Xpress,” the company's Founder and CEO, Dino Araneta, shared GoGo Xpress's vision of uplifting the livelihood of Filipinos through entrepreneurship and supporting Filipino sellers, especially those who are into online or social selling.

“We want to help give Filipino entrepreneurs a fighting chance in fulfilling their dreams so they can provide for themselves and their families while improving their quality of life,” said Araneta.

To realize this vision, GoGo Xpress has invested in the data and technology needed to make the company’s vision come true for GoGo Xpress Partners, which includes casual social sellers, buyers, and rider partners. GoGo Xpress wants to make it easier for every Filipino to go into business or continuously grow their existing businesses.

GoGo Xpress is a go-to hassle-free online selling partner. Online Sellers who promote via social media can use GoGo Xpress to create a storefront where they can have their customers view and check out the item, immediately book Pinas-wide delivery, and settle the payment."

For 2022, GoGo Xpress is leveling up with more Seller Tool features that would further help grow online businesses.

One of these tools is GoBenta, an enhancement to GoGo Xpress’s Sell-A-Product feature, which allows Sellers to create up to 100 product links that would include descriptions, stock availability, and price within the GoBenta storefront. Aside from this, sellers can link their GoBenta store to their Facebook Page's chat with Messenger Shop or just share the link on their social media, so Online Buyers can easily visit, and check out items they wish to purchase.  Meanwhile, buyers can input their delivery details aside from choosing COD as a mode of payment. That makes it more efficient on the Seller’s side as they don't need to fill in the delivery details for their buyers. This means more efficiency and accuracy and fewer mistakes in delivery. Thanks to this feature, Buyers can know immediately how much the shipping fee is and have the option to choose COD without having to pay a COD service fee. Sellers using GoGo Xpress can also create their own special discounts for the items they are promoting with the Promo Code Generator. This way, they get to create their own exclusive offers for their customers during their Sale period. 

“As of today, we have successfully connected almost 1.

5 million casual social sellers to over 20 million buyers. As an e-commerce tech and logistics company, we offer seller tools that provide a hassle-free way of doing business. Right now, we are leveling up with more features and seller tools that would benefit our merchants and their customers,” said Mia Bulatao, President and Chief Operating Officer of GoGo Xpress.

For 2022, Bulatao said GoGo Xpress projects to grow its customer base and make the online buying and selling experience enjoyable to over 3M sellers and 40M buyers.

"With a GoBenta storefront, sellers can customize their store names and upload their own brand logos. They can also use the product links to promote their store and products on their social media platforms, including Facebook, FB Messenger Shop, FB Marketplace, KUMU, Carousell, Viber, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Email, and SMS,” said Bulatao.

McCoy Jacinto, GoGo Xpress Managing Director, said 2,500 shops have so far been created on GoBenta and the number is growing by 15% week-on-week.

“It’s easy to navigate and it’s very user-friendly,” said Drew of Furry Good Pet Supplies.

"Making product links is so easy compared with having to think of graphic designs for my online shop. I just need a picture, a short description and I'm done," said Iris of The Square Peg Shop.

"Our objective is to provide Merchants with Selling Tools that would make online selling and shopping more fun, more affordable, and more efficient without being intimidating," said Bulatao.

Xorting Machine in Pasig

For more information, visit  GoGo Xpress’s Website at https://www.gogoxpress.com/ and like their Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/GoGoXpressCom.

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ABOUT GOGO XPRESS

GoGo Xpress is your Go-To Hassle-Free Social Selling Partner in the Philippines that is specifically designed and built for social and casual sellers.  It provides affordable on-time nationwide delivery service including Free Pouches & Boxes, Free Cash on Delivery service, Free pick-up, Free Item Protection (for items worth P500 & below), and user-friendly dashboards to directly monitor orders, sales, and earnings. 

The Year 2022 is fast approaching, in just a few days it will be the year of the Tiger. As the New Year comes, I've thought about the things that I should've done, but haven't got the chance to do. So, I'm setting up healthy goals for the coming year, and here are some of them.

Watch What I Eat and Drink

I eat healthy foods most of the time, but I found myself eating more processed foods and drinking soft drinks late this year. So, that's what I'm about to limit or try to avoid if I can next year. 

LIMIT or STOP Ordering Foods Online

I admit this is quite challenging. I haven't used any food delivery apps not until the middle of this year where we stayed downtown for months. The restaurants and malls are very much accessible here, unlike in Tacunan where there are very limited food deliveries and our favorites are in downtown. So, there... Goodbye food delivery apps na ba? So, instead of ordering foods online, we'll try to make healthy home cooked meals.

Exercise and Be Fit

I've been slacking off and haven't done any exercises for a while except for walking while catching Pokemon. LOL! I actually missed doing jump ropes already. I guess I don't have to wait for the Year 2022 to start doing this again and practice Yoga with Miel. 

I guess this workout calculator will be handy in keeping my fitness journey on track. It can quickly estimate your total caloric burn rate for a combination of up to 20 different exercises.

Practice Baking Again

I was thinking about this last year, but I still haven't done it. I'll make sure to try the recipes I had in mind and make it into a reality *crossing my fingers*. Actually, I didn't go into a culinary school or had any formal training in baking, but I have attended a basic baking workshop a few years ago. Then, I started baking cookies at first before I tried cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops. It was fun and I'm excited to do it again soon. :)

Have a Positive Mindset

I am a worrier. I worry about a lot of things, even things that didn't happen yet, and then anxiety would eat me up and I'd have panic attacks. Life's challenges can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, but hopefully, I'd be able to manage how I feel and set a positive mindset. 

Manage My Time

2021 is quite a busy year for me, I am so overwhelmed by the online opportunities given and offered to me. I became busy online and haven't got the chance to unplug until late this year. It felt good to be away from social media for a while, to not think about re-shoots and deadlines, but I actually missed it afterward. *lol* I'll try to balance and manage my time now, so I won't get burned out.

Set a Time for Games

I got hooked into playing online games lately, most especially this play-to-earn game that keeps me up even at midnight. *lol* I love strategy games and this game challenges me. I like the fact that I can earn from a game I enjoyed playing, so no time is wasted. ;)

My daughter also loves playing games, I let her play once in a while, especially if she's done with her assignments and during weekends. Recently, she's been playing kids games related to cooking or food. 

Tap Supermarket is quite fun by the way, I watch her play this game where she manages a grocery store which includes restocking of supplies, expanding the line of goods sold, and checking out customers. 

Find Pair is the other game that she finds cute, but challenging at the same time because it has a timer. Like me, she also loves puzzle games, and she enjoyed playing this memory card matching game. What I like about this game is it helps her develop pattern recognition skills and helps her identify similar items, where the view is partially obstructed or the item is spun around at a different angle.

Kids learn from playing games too, both online and offline, but as parents, we have to set rules so they won't get addicted to it and won't affect their studies. So, I have to set a time now for both of us to play games. 

Setting up our goals is very easy, what's hard is actually having the desire and motivation to maintain doing it. For sure there will be temptations and challenges, but I hope that I'd be able to achieve these goals. :) 

How about you, do you have any goals for next year? 

Every 3 minutes, a child with a cleft and lip palate is born. In the Philippines, 1 in 500 children born has a cleft and lip palate condition, a gap in the mouth that did not close during the early stages of pregnancy.

Every year, about 4,500 Filipino babies are born with this condition.

Operation Smile Philippines has helped change the lives of many children born with this condition since 1982.

Health, wellness, and beauty retailer Watsons Philippines has been a partner of Operation Smile Philippines for the past nine years and have helped transform the life of 1,986 patients. This year, as part of its mission, to Look Good, Do Good, Feel Great, Watsons teams up with OSP again to bring perfect smiles to children affected by cleft and palate. 

"The partnership was paused in 2020 because of the pandemic but this year, we are back with Smile For Good. Of course, we will be very mindful of the physical distancing restrictions, but our desire to continue to bring smiles to the children has not wavered," said Viki Encarnacion, PR & Sustainability Director of Watsons. 

"We are very proud to be partners with Watsons on this project for nine years running. Their dedication to transforming lives despite the pandemic is really admirable and Operation Smile is happy to be doing this with them," said Emiliano Romano, Executive Director of Operation Smile Philippines.

This partnership in the Philippines is part of ASW’s global commitment to bring 10,000 perfect smiles in partnership with Operation Smile. It aims to educate the public and raise awareness about cleft/lip palate conditions.

Aside from partnering with Operation Smile, A.S. Watsons Philippines is engaging with its employees, strategic partners, and customers contributing time and financial support in order to sponsor as many free surgical missions to continue changing lives, one smile at a time.

Aided by technology, Watsons Philippines pharmacists and employee volunteers will conduct hygiene orientation seminars online for the patients' families on the subject of post-operation feeding, oral and lip care. Watsons will also provide Hygiene Care Kits with oral and hand care products to the 50 kids post-operation. 

It takes as few as 45 minutes to provide a bright, beautiful new smile and a healthier, happier future for a child born with a cleft lip or cleft palate. Visit Operation Smile Philippines to know how to help make a difference in these children’s lives.

Recently, Watsons Philippines has collaborated with Plastic Bank to help reduce plastic pollution and alleviate poverty by creating livelihood as part of its Sustainability Program.

Plastic waste is a big problem for the environment and humanity in general: Every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into the ocean. If this continues unabated, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans in 30 years. 

Sadly, the Philippines is one of the top 3 contributors to this plastic problem. One of the major contributors to plastic waste is single-use plastics which come from retail products and lack of landfill resources, but among those things, I think the people are mostly responsible for this waste.

Sustainability has always been part of the Watsons DNA. Recognizing that the ocean stores a quarter of CO2 from the atmosphere and up to 93.4% of heat caused by the greenhouse effect, Watsons is committed to reducing the overall impact of its own-brand plastic packaging so that it may contribute to ocean protection.

The A.S. Watsons Group has banned the use of microplastics in its own brand of rinse-off cosmetics or personal care products since 2014. By the end of 2019, this ban has been extended to all brands so no rinse-off cosmetics or personal care products from any brand are sold at any Watsons stores.

Watsons Philippines offers its customers four Sustainable Choices: Clean Beauty (mindfully created products without “unwanted” ingredients), Refill and Reduce (refilling bottles and reusing containers), Better Ingredients, and Better Packaging.

Through its Impact Program Collaboration with Plastic Bank, the health, wellness, and beauty retailer will continue to Do Good for the Oceans by committing to the prevention of 50,000 kg of plastic bottles from entering the world’s oceans - the equivalent of 2.5 million bottles over the first 12 months.  

 “At the heart of Look Good, Feel Great is Do Good. Watsons has always been at the forefront of sustainability and this collaboration with Plastic Bank only further reinforces our commitment to helping make this world a better place,” said Viki Encarnacion, Watsons PR and Sustainability Director.

“We are happy to team up with Watsons Philippines - a company that shares our vision of creating a regenerative economy. This collaboration showcases our unified goal of stopping ocean plastic while creating more opportunities for people living in vulnerable coastal communities,” said David Katz, Founder, and CEO of Plastic Bank.

As citizens of the Philippines, we are responsible for every plastic waste that goes into our oceans. We have to do our part too and help our LGU's and our community by recycling things at home. Recycling would then be easier if we segregate our waste properly from biodegradable non-biodegradable. By doing this, there will be lesser wastes that go into our landfills, most especially if biodegradable wastes are put into good use like making it into fertilizers.

Have you been doing these things too? :)

Check out below so you'll know. ;)