Since his early days in De la Salle, re-selling stickers for the profit of a single peso each, to taking orders from Divisoria for his classmates – Steve Sy always had it in him to supply, demand.

Today, he helms the largest and fastest-growing e-commerce company in The Philippines – Great Deals.

The company, founded in 2014, now handles local e-commerce operations for multinationals such as Nestle, P&G, Reebok, Abott, L’Oreal, and Unilever. It has recently broken its top, single-day sales record with nearly a quarter million transactions, and has secured US$12 million dollars in seed capital from Navegar (a private equity firm), for expansion.

This success in the sales industry, ironically, is founded on Steve Sy’s vision that his company was “built to last, not built to sell.” It’s a future-focused mindset that would be challenged at the onset of the Corona Virus pandemic.

No Return, Know Change

With the world plunged into a no-return reality of covid-19, Steve Sy embraced change. “None of us really prepared or expected this pandemic happening. Our supply (chains) were the first ones hit (due to the lockdowns).” Given that logistics is their only moving channel, Steve had to harness his entire team to mitigate the problem – allowing them to resume normal operations in just under a week.

This was of course, just the start.

While many companies, seeing their revenues plummet, choose to layoff employees – Great Deals did just the opposite.

“We upped our hiring in the Philippines by more than 100 people,” beams Steve, “the e-comm inflection point happened during the pandemic so we are still expanding – aggressively but cautiously.”

He goes on to describe the team’s precautions.

“We provided face masks, alcohol, sanitizers. We hired cleaning companies to disinfect (our sites) every week. We also hired shuttles for our employees so they have drop points to and from work. We even provided sleeping quarters for employees who wanted to stay in the office.” All of this on top of the additional allowance dispensed to front-liners who choose to commute. Steve credits “the resiliency of (his) people,” as one of the reasons why Great Deals has weathered the corona storm. “We see ourselves as frontliners who have to continue and help our kababayans in this time of fear.”

He also sees Great Deals as “a silver lining to the local economy.” Beyond continuing to provide jobs and helping money move, Mr. Sy believes that his company is preparing Filipinos for the future.

What’s in-Store for the Future: Click-easy Shopping

Steve Sy sells us his dream of the future. “It takes 21 days to build a habit. Thus, two and a half months at home builds a lifestyle. E-comm shopping has now become a new lifestyle. More products are being offered, logistics is becoming faster. E-comm is the new retail.” He proclaims this boldly before musing that to this end, if he could legislate a law, it would be for faster internet service. “Madami na yon ma-solve. It will also help fast-track the country to the new, cashless, digital economy.”

Indeed, in his mission to “uplift Filipino lives through the digital economy,” Steve envisions “Instant Commerce,” a service which allows people to ‘add-to-cart’ anything worn, eaten, or used by anyone they see on social media, and have it arrive, within 30 minutes at their doorstep.

This maven of the local tech e-commerce scene ends by giving aspiring entrepreneurs a bit of advice.

“I want to share a principle. Found in Joshua ch1, verse 8 – ‘Do not let this book of law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day & night – and in everything you do. You will be prosperous and successful.”

It’s a thousand year-old adage that means one ought to focus, speak their truth, and live their life towards a goal – advice that can’t be “add to cart,” but is certainly worth adding to heart.

Great Deals is headquartered in Quezon City with warehouses in Bulacan. It is currently renovating from 160-square meter office to a 3,000 square meter space for it’s 300-strong workforce. They may be contacted through their social media.

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