There are thousands of places to buy stuff online. But, who should you buy from? Are all online shops and eCommerce platforms the same?
This article outlines why all online shops are not the same, and why we think Amazon Philippines is the first place you should look to do all of your online purchases.
Amazon Philippines Description: About Amazon
Amazon is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company focuses on cloud computing, digital streaming, artificial intelligence, and eCommerce.
It is one of the Big Five companies in the United States’ information technology, along with Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. Amazon has been referred to as “one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world”.
History
Amazon was founded in July 1994 by Jeff Bezos. The company went public in May 1997. Initially, it started by selling music and videos in 1998, at which time it began operations internationally by acquiring online sellers of books in Germany and the United Kingdom.
The following year, Amazon started selling items including consumer electronics, home improvement items, video games, software, toys, and games.
In 2002, Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provided data on Internet traffic patterns, website popularity, and other statistics for developers and marketers.
In 2006, Amazon grew its AWS portfolio when Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which rents computer processing power as well as Simple Storage Service (S3), which rents data storage via the Internet, were made available.
That same year, Amazon started Fulfillment by Amazon which managed the inventory of individuals and small companies selling their belongings through the company’s internet site.
In 2012, Amazon bought Kiva Systems to automate its inventory-management business, purchasing Whole Foods Market supermarket chain five years later in 2017.
In January 2021, Amazon invested over $278 million by opening two new centers in Italy and creating over 1,100 jobs.
In February 2021, Amazon announced that Jeff Bezos would be stepping down as CEO and transitioning to Executive Chair of Amazon’s board in Q3 of 2021. Andy Jassy – the current CEO of AWS – will succeed Bezos as CEO.
Amazon Mission Statement:
Our mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking.
Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.
Amazon Philippines Benefits
So, what are the benefits of shopping on Amazon Philippines?
Best Prices
Amazon Philippines has some of the best prices available anywhere. You almost never have to buy an item at a regular price.
Plus, most items are on sale. With so many items listed and such a large base of sellers competing with each other, buyers can compare prices and get the best possible prices for the products they want.
Huge Product Selection
There is a huge base of sellers on Amazon Philippines, which means that there are hundreds of thousands of items available every day.
If you’re looking for a specific product, you will often find a comparable item available from 10 different brands!
This allows you to easily compare shops and makes sure that you’re buying exactly what you need.
Fast, Cheap Shipping
One of the biggest pains of online shipping is the extra cost of shopping. A lot of online stores add on an extra for shipping, which in the end, makes the online bargain not so much of a deal anymore.
However, Amazon Philippines has some of the best shipping rates available!
Moreover, because they sell so many different items, you can make a big order of unrelated items and have them all shipped together at the same time – this can help you further save on shipping costs.
Reliability
Amazon is a multi-awarded, reliable company. Throughout the years, Amazon has received numerous awards and recognition for its excellent service and products.
Some of the awards and recognition they have received include: “#1 MBLM Brand Intimacy Rankings and Brand Intimacy COVID Rankings in Retail, 2020”,
“#1 BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brand, 2019-2020”, “#1 Values Institute America’s Most Trustworthy Brands, 2017-2018”,
“Hire Heroes USA, Top Employer of the Year, 2020”, and “Year Up Collective Opportunity Award for Puget Sound, WA, 2019” – to name a few.
Amazon Philippines Features
Amazon has many useful features to ensure its quality of service and products.
Logistics
Amazon uses many different transportation services to deliver packages. Amazon-branded services include:
- Amazon Air, a cargo airline for bulk transport, with last-mile delivery handled either by Amazon Flex, Amazon Logistics, or the United States Postal Service.
- Amazon Flex, a smartphone app that enables individuals to act as independent contractors, delivering packages to customers from personal vehicles without uniforms. Deliveries include one- or two-hour Prime Now, same or next-day Amazon Fresh groceries, and standard Amazon.com orders, in addition to orders from local stores that contract with Amazon.
- Amazon Logistics, in which Amazon contracts with small businesses (which it calls “Delivery Service Partners”) to perform deliveries to customers. Each business has a fleet of approximately 20-40 Amazon-branded vans, and employees of the contractors wear Amazon uniforms. As of December 2020, it operates in the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Amazon Prime Air is an experimental drone delivery service.
Amazon Store
- The Amazon Store features a wide selection of products through the 1.7 million small and medium businesses around the world selling on Amazon.com and offering more options for customers
- The Amazon Store online has several useful features, making it more convenient for users.
Amazon Optimized for Mobile Devices
Some of the customers using access technology may find it convenient to visit the mobile site.
Kindle E-reader Accessibility
Kindle E-readers now come with accessibility features, so that more customers can enjoy their books.
Fire Tablet Accessibility
Fire tablets come with accessibility tools so that all customers can enjoy their books, movies, apps, and more.
Amazon Community and Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews help customers learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
Customer Reviews give customers genuine product feedback from fellow shoppers. Amazon has a zero-tolerance policy for any review designed to mislead or manipulate customers.
Shopping Features: Best Sellers Rank
The Amazon Best Sellers Rank calculation is based on Amazon sales and is updated hourly to reflect recent and historical sales of every item sold on Amazon.
Note: While the Amazon Best Sellers list is a good indicator of how well a product is selling overall, it doesn’t necessarily indicate how well an item is selling in relation to similar items.
Amazon Philippines User Reviews
Below are some reviews from shoppers who have used Amazon:
“I have been very happy using Amazon.com for years, with very few issues until recently. It appears that their customer support has changed, most likely due to the Chinese Covid-19 virus, which has brought our country to its knees.
The only issue I have lately is that, if you have a gift card balance on your Amazon account, and during the order process you specify another payment method, like VISA, they still may charge the item against your gift card balance.
That might not be a problem unless you are saving that balance for a family member to use. I recently spent more than a half-hour in a chat session trying to get the charge moved from my gift card to my VISA, as I had specified when placing the order.
It was not resolved as of this date. I won’t knock off any stars at this time, due to Covid-19. I will continue to shop on Amazon and will continue to compare their prices against their competition. I still rate them 5 stars!” – J
“I use Amazon.com often, and 99% of the time, they do an excellent job. With the volume of business they do, it is understandable that occasionally problems will arise.
Recently, I ordered a twin-size bed, which is a bulky item and more pricey than my normal orders. It had a delivery date of two weeks later (most of my orders I receive in a few days).
When the item was not delivered on the date it should have been, Amazon’s tracking info stated I would have to contact the delivery company, which I did.
They never received the item from Amazon. So, I went to Amazon directly and found that the item made it to my city, but not to the delivery company. It was marked as lost.” – Bill
“Amazon.com consistently offers exemplary services in all aspects of their business. Customer service is top-notch. There is no issue too big or too small that is not handled with expediency and for the complete satisfaction of their customers.” – Deb
“Prime members are supposed to get free delivery and early delivery, my package was undeliver on the day that they promised, they send the replacement 3 days after and promised to be delivered early morning, didn’t receive it till later. So disappointed with Amazon right now.” – Boyke
“Like most anyone who uses the internet, I frequently use Amazon for a majority of my purchases. Even more so since the whole Covid-19 Pandemic.
Occasionally I’ve had to return purchases which is a pretty straightforward process, with no hoops to jump through or hidden pitfalls. Honestly, I don’t think it’s possible to make it any easier.
More recently, someone purchased over $150 worth of video rentals from my account. I immediately changed my password and contacted Amazon the next day.
They helped me narrow down where the charge could have come from, and how to prevent it from happening again, and issued a refund. I couldn’t be more satisfied with my customer service experience.” – Kobi
“I have become extremely frustrated with the Prime delivery delays due to Amazon’s Covid-19 policy. I am all for prioritizing medical and healthcare supplies, but by delaying my other orders they are saving a lot of shipping money!
I have not heard any offers of a discount on my Prime subscription, but I will admit that I don’t read all of the notices I receive, so apologies to Amazon if they have discounted the subscription rates. But if not, they are profiting from the pandemic big time!” – Ken
“Great shopping experience right at my fingertips. Amazon offers products that I need that may be hard to find locally… Shopping made easy & convenient any time of the day or night…Customer Service has been great at Amazon when I have a problem or question.” – Cherry
“They have almost everything. One-stop shopping. Plus, if you have Prime most is next-day shipping.
And you can sit on your couch and order it. Now there are things you just don’t order from Amazon Like your fresh produce. Come on people.” – Shawn
“Not sure what is happening at Amazon but it’s not the same anymore. Have recently had issues with the charged purchase being refunded as Amazon credit, prices on things have become ridiculously higher (pre-Corona gouging) and the search engine does not work as well as it used to.
Maybe they’ve become too big to keep up with the website or they’ve gotten lazy, but the organization of the pages, prices, and sellers is a mess now. Counterfeits and knockoffs are everywhere. Absolutely will not buy anything edible or that goes on my skin now. So sad.” – Shannon
“I always find exactly what I need at Amazon. I really don’t have to shop around and for me, time is of the essence. I have a busy schedule and Amazon is perfect.” – Kathleen
“Amazon overall has a huge variety but their products are sometimes smaller than you would expect or less quantity as well. They have a terrible return policy but otherwise, their delivery is fast although I wish they used more than just the postal service.” – David
“Amazon has much variety and can find almost anything one might want. Costs vary though and they do not police their 3rd party resellers.
I am not sure they should branch out to a lot of other businesses. Some moves seem a match and others not so much.” – Lisa
“Amazon just does it right and that is why they are the leaders. Easy to return and responsive to customers’ requests. I have never had a problem and the reviews help to determine what products I would like to buy.” – Teri
Amazon Philippines Price
Due to the wide variety of products found on Amazon Philippines, prices can range anywhere from Php 50 to Php 50,000+.
