Manila, Philippines – Leading recommerce group in Greater Southeast Asia, Carousell, recently held its Caroupreneur Awards in the Philippines. The Caroupreneur Awards recognises a wide variety of outstanding achievements of ‘Carousellers’ over the past year, ranging from entrepreneurs who started or scaled their businesses online, to brick-and-mortar retailers who digitalised their businesses, and everyday casual sellers who wanted to find valuable use for their pre-loved items and supplement their income.
This is the second iteration of the Caroupreneur Awards where the pioneer awards was held in its home country, Singapore, last year. The regional awards event, which now includes the Philippines and Hong Kong, will be recognising a total of 182 users on the platform’s wide array of product categories for their outstanding achievements throughout 2021.
A physical awards show for the Philippines was held in Manila on 1 September. Winners of the awards were determined through a judging panel made up of Marcus Tan, co-founder of Carousell; Djon Nacario, GM of Carousell Philippines, and Vishal Salunkhe, VP of Seller Success Operations at Carousell.
On the importance of the recognition exercise, Djon Nacario, GM of Carousell Philippines, shared with MARKETECH APAC, “We wanted to recognise the best of the best in Carousell because we recognise that Carousell is not simply a platform in order for sellers to sell, but it’s actually a platform of ‘possibilities’. We’ve seen throughout the years, even during the pandemic, that a lot of our sellers actually resorted to a lot of creativity, and really translated to passion in order to get, I would say, sources of revenue or sources of funds, especially during the difficult time.”
He added, “And we just really wanted to celebrate that type of ingenuity, and also at the same time, recognise the best practices that our top sellers have been doing on our platform in order to inspire more people to start selling and learn from them.”
The Carousell Group lauded the winners and finalists in the categories of Autos, Property for Sale, Property for Rent, Home Services, Men’s Fashion, Women’s Fashion, Electronics, Furniture and Home Living, Toys and Games, and K-Wave. Meanwhile, the Group also named the seller for its top award – Caroupreneur of the Year 2021 – as well as a special award for the Most Meaningful User Story of the Year. The shortlisted sellers were identified through a mix of qualitative and quantitative criteria, such as quality of listings, reviews, creativity, and brand story.
Seller Katherine Mae A. Cipriano, who sold electronics and gadgets through her Carousell page, @TekiCashGadgetsph, was the one who won the Caroupreneur Award of the Year for Best in Carousell: Electronics.
Cipriano shared with MARKETECH APAC her tips for aspiring sellers, and said that it’s all about just making the jump and carving out your first step in selling.
“Actually, I can’t believe that I won, I even thought that it was a dummy account who was chatting with me [about the win], because ever since I started selling gadgets, it’s really my first time receiving an award like this and to add to that – 2 awards,” she said.
Cipriano, whose main source of funds is through the platform, added, “Carousell is really a big help, especially if you just start selling because you will learn to like what you’re doing especially when you’re already earning.”
Full list of winners can be found on Carousell’s website.
