Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

It would like to differentiate itself as an e-commerce platform that has compassion for Filipinos, as it is, after all, a homegrown one — born out of a struggling time that made it pivot its focus from automobiles and electronics to essential products.

VeMoBro — short for “Velocity, Mobility, and Broad” — has been officially launched in the Philippines to join the likes of Shopee and Lazada, styling itself as the Pikachu in a world filled with Godzillas and King Kongs, as one of its executives said.

VeMoBro president and chief executive officer Engr. Vergil J. Bargola admitted, “We can’t go toe to toe with the giants. What we can do is address the concerns of Filipinos. In a pandemic situation, community is important. We are Filipinos, so we take care of our own.”

VeMoBro founder Engr. Vergil J. Bargola is a veteran in the logistics industry, having owned freight-forwarding companies. With that experience comes the guarantee of a strong logistics system

And the executives, including vice president and chief operating officer Rain M. Ibajo, have repeatedly said that: that they don’t compete, but instead provide an additional way of empowering Filipino retailers of all sizes, with focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. It helps that Bargola is a veteran in the logistics industry, not only locally but internationally, having owned freight-forwarding companies.

With that experience comes the guarantee of a strong logistics system, with VeMoBro promising a standard 48-hour delivery. It’s even possible for customers in Metro Manila, at least for now, to choose same-day delivery — as long as orders are confirmed before 12 p.m. — with just a simple scroll and click with the firm’s partner delivery-service providers, such as Blue Panther, Capex, Alphacon, J&T Express, Mr. Speedy, GoMoto, LBC, and ParaHero.

For payments, there are several options: cash-on-delivery, online banking, and e-wallet payment through GCash, GrabPay, Coins.ph, and Dragonpay.

VeMoBro wants to focus on improving the online-shopping experience by making sure that everything on the platform is legitimate and not fake — unfortunately a recurring issue faced by many e-commerce platforms. It’s currently vetting more than 30 merchants at the time of writing this article.

“The onboarding process is critical,” Bargola said. “At VeMoBro, we don’t do simple emails and then you’re already a merchant.”

On the contrary, the company adopts fail-safe features to filter out fake sellers and implements a system that regulates and ensures accurate, easy-to-read product descriptions to deliver peace of mind while shopping, it claims. This is all for providing a safe e-commerce space.

SEE ALSO: Raffy Tulfo’s Idol Shopping Network to rival Lazada, Shopee

According to VeMoBro, it has a campaign for fair use between customers and sellers. “Both parties in the transaction can rate each other on the site. While the review of sellers has been a long-known feature on online shopping sites, [our] platform encourages sellers to appeal and report faulty product reviews. Additionally, sellers can give reviews of customers so other merchants can be made aware of fraudulent customers or transactions.”

You can now start shopping at vemobro.com.ph. The Android app should be available soon, with the version for iOS users to follow. Until June 30, first-time users are entitled to a P100 (around $2) discount for initial orders that cost at least P1,000 ($21) in total. Customers will be provided with the promo code upon sign-up.

---