The Great Cebu Sale chairperson Camille Aldeguer (Photo courtesy of Camille Aldeguer)
CEBU CITY – Cebu’s first-ever ongoing industry-wide virtual sale event, the Great Cebu Sale (GCS), has listed growing online traffic as organizers here urged consumers to take advantage of the best deals they could get from their preferred merchants.
Camille Aldeguer, the chairperson of the GCS event, said that for the first week of the virtual sale, which started on Sept. 15, they recorded over 3,000 visitors on the GCS’s official website www.greatcebusale.com.
"We expect this to increase moving forward especially if more people will be aware that some of Cebu’s famous brands are offering great deals and promos this time,” she said in a statement on Sunday.
Most of the site visitors came from the Philippines, followed by the US, Japan, Singapore, and Qatar.
On a city basis, the top visitors are from Cebu City, followed by Iloilo City, Davao City, Quezon City, and Makati City.
“Based on the feedback we’ve received, people are eager to go out and relax. Many have therefore purchased overnight stay promos offered by our resorts and hotels,” Aldeguer said.
In fact, the sites of tourism-related companies are the most accessed by GCS visitors. They are followed by electronics, lifestyle, home essentials, and food and beverage (F&B).
"The promos offered by our resorts, hotels, and F&B establishments are our top deals,” she said.
Aldeguer said they seek to further raise awareness on the ongoing online sale event among shoppers.
The GCS, organized by various business groups in Cebu led by the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), was inspired by the Great Singapore Sale, highlighting exceptional deals, promos, and packages of participating brands throughout the sale period.
The GCS official website is up and running to boost the promos offered by the participating merchants.
“The website does not have a payment platform. The fulfillment of the order or purchase lies directly under the responsibility of the participating company,” she said.
Chester Lim, president of the PRA in Cebu, said the sale event, which runs until Oct. 31, 2020, brings Cebu’s top brands in the hospitality, wellness, travel, automotive, fashion, hardware, electronics, and food industries.
This industry-wide activity aims to stimulate business activity in Cebu to regain consumer confidence after the months-long lockdown triggered by the coronavirus outbreak.
"It’s about time that Cebu needs to get back to business. We need to start building up business and consumer confidence through a movement of consumption and hopefully create favorable conditions for businesses to go online during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Lim said.
On Monday and Tuesday, GCS has scheduled a two-part webinar series titled “Rethinking our Business and Repurposing our Facilities for Survival and Sustenance #Diskarte” for the first part, and on Oct. 5 and 6 for the second part.
On Oct. 12 and 13, another webinar dubbed as “Redefining and Optimizing the Essential Components of Retail in these Most Challenging Times” will also be conducted.
On Oct. 19 and 20, GCS will also host a webinar on “Leading by Emotional Intelligence with Stressed-out Workforce and Anxious Guests and Customers”. (PNA)
