Global Trade Philippines – Local B2B as it should be

Silently but effectively building hype since they started in 2007, Global Trade Philippines, a-sort-of-Alibaba with Filipino flavor, maximizes offline PR through magazine article features. I first saw them in Entrepreneur Philippines and this month, they’re in SME Insight. This definitely expands their reach to their target market, the otherwise not-always-Internet-savvy local traders.

Definitely watch out for great things from Global Trade Philippines. Why?

1. The founders are young, web-savvy, and grounded in their business. Jerry is the technical guy while Kim takes care of the business. They believe in their product and they love what they do.
2. Their market is well-defined, with lots of untapped potential. Not all web apps can enjoy such a defined audience, especially those targeting individual users. Targeting B2B is likely to be more effective and viable – just look at Salesforce and Alibaba.
3. They know their industry. Whether it’s because they have a Chinese (read: entrepreneurial) background or they did extensive research, they understand the needs of their users.
4. Revenue model is straightforward. Their annual subscription fees are quite affordably priced at PHP 1,440 ($36)4,800 for Micro (Basic) and PHP 2,400 ($60)7,200 for Pro (Premium). You can tell they started with a feasibility study and this is a website is a business just like any.
5. Offline PR boosts GlobalTradePhilippines userbase — and shows that it’s meaningful for its users. Even though for 37 signals, teaser-preview-launch (all happening online) seems to be enough. When you target a Filipino audience, going institutional and using offline PR is still necessary.

Just a couple of weak points before I pack up. Rates and Copy.

As an ordinary visitor, I’d first look for a Rates link (which I didn’t find) that shows me a rates table (Basic, Premium) that’s NOT in pdf. Then direct me to the registration page.

The pages are also very text-heavy. When GlobalTradePhilippines does its next iteration, I’d just like to see very brief points, just a list of key benefits and call to action, and maybe a tour and screenshots – aside from the usual register/login, etc. Testimonials would be great to see too. I’m curious to see how suppliers have expanded since using the site.

Watch out for our interview with GlobalTradePhilippines later this week.