Manila, Philippines – ShopBack Philippines has recently concluded its first-ever Users’ Choice Awards event last 30 March at Fairmont Makati. The physical gathering was the culminating event of the rewards platform’s voting exercise which lasted for the whole month of March where users got to vote for their most favourite brands on the platform. 

In the in-person event, more than 100 merchant partners and media attended the night filled with fruitful discussions and celebrations. Awards granted included the Trendsetters’ Choice, Smart Shoppers’ Choice, Foodies’ Choice, and Mommie’s Choice, amongst many others.

 Prashant Kala, the GM of ShopBack Ads APAC and acting country manager for the PH market.

More than 200,000 votes were garnered during the campaign period and winners were determined based on the number of votes received, the number of users who visited the merchant online via the ShopBack app, and the number of bookmarks via the Watchlist feature.

Here were the full list of winners: 

  • Smart Shoppers’ Choice (Marketplaces category): Lazada
  • Trendsetters’ Choice (Fashion category): Zalora
  • Foodies’ Choice (Food and Grocery category): Foodpanda 
  • Mommie’s Choice (Mom and Baby category): Edamama 
  • Revenge Travelers’s Choice (Travel category): Agoda 
  • Glow Getters’ Choice (Health and Beauty category): Shopee
  • Fitness Junkies’ Choice (Sports and Fitness category): Nike
  • Tech Savvy’s Choice (Tech category): Samsung
  • Supefans’ Choice (Brand loyalists category): Adidas 
  • Top New Merchant: SHEIN
  • Brand Trailblazer Special Award: Lazada
  • Local Groundbreaker Special Award: Edamama and Metromart 

ShopBack opened the in-person event with a look back at 2022. Timothy Tuason, commercial director for ShopBack Philippines, emphasised the high conversion data in the platform which pushed for tangible business results for its merchant partners. 

The brand also teased what’s to come this 2023 and the highlights included were optimisations on its newly launched search ads and livestream features, an upcoming podcast series, and its 8th birthday celebration this June. 

Nishant D’Souza, Edamama Co-Founder, then provided a keynote presentation on the topic of how to make a flourishing Filipino start-up, sharing Edamama’s journey to becoming one of the top shopping apps in the country. 

ShopBack also invited other merchant partners for a fireside chat to talk about the synergy of growth and profitability. The discussions touched on the need to constantly adjust strategies in the ever-changing macro environment. The speaker line-up included:

  • Ricardo Ortuoste – Head of User Growth, Lazada Philippines
  • Amer Bakshi – Head of Strategic Partnerships, Foodpanda Philippines
  • Cris Tan – Marketing Director, Zalora Philippines
  • Nathalie Salcedo – Growth Lead, Metromart Philippines

“We are happy to spend this night with our esteemed partners as a way to show our gratitude for a great 2022. More exciting things are coming ahead this 2023 and looking forward to strengthening our partnerships with all of you,” Tuason shared. 

Last 17 March, ShopBack Philippines also launched yet another media gathering to mark the start of the summer season. In partnership with Zalora, the platform kicked off the season with Summer Playground’, a lifestyle event that gathered KOLs and media as well as the platform’s key partners.

Manila, Philippines – ShopBack, the shopping, rewards, and payments platform in APAC, is launching its first-ever Users’ Choice Awards, which will inaugurally be focused on the Philippines. The platform is handing the power to users to determine the top-performing brands on the platform. 

As of current, ShopBack boasts over 600 partnerships with some of the most trusted retailers in the Philippines across industries ranging from travel and fashion to tech and marketplaces. According to the platform, the year 2022 saw the onboarding of several exciting new partnerships, with more than 50 brands, including collaborations with notable fashion retailers like SHEIN and Puma, onboarded on the platform. 

For its inaugural Users’ Choice Awards, to be launched in the Philippines; there will be a total of 9 awards up for grabs for the flagship categories.

The recognitions, namely, are the ‘Smart Shoppers’ Choice’ for the Marketplaces category, the ‘Glow Getters’ Choice’ for the Health and Beauty category, the ‘Fitness Junkies’ Choice’ for the Sports category, the ‘Trendsetters’ Choice’ for the Fashion category, the ‘Foodies’ Choice’ for the Food and Grocery category, the ‘Tech Savvy’s Choice’ for the Tech and Gaming category, and the ‘Mommies’ Choice’ for brands that cater to mom and baby essentials. 

True to the current times we have now, the roster includes an award for the top travel brands, aptly called, the ‘Revenge Travelers’ Choice’. In addition, serving as a bit of an icebreaker to the category-inclined awards is the ‘Superfans’ Choice’, which will be contested amongst brands with the highest brand loyalists. 

During the night of the awards itself, aside from the aforementioned, special awards will be given such as the ‘Top Growing Brand’ and ‘Top New Brand’, amongst others. 

The voting period, which has commenced last 10 March, will allow users to vote for their favourite brands per category on ShopBack until 27 March. This leads to the official awards night on 30 March which will be held at Fairmont Makati.

To vote, users will need to utilise ShopBack’s ‘challenges’ feature, where one can earn bonus cashback based on one’s purchases or certain actions on the app. For the Users’ Choice Awards, users can look forward to getting up to P100 from the challenges.

Brand winners would be determined based on the number of votes received (50%), the number of users who visit the merchant online via the ShopBack app (25%), and the number of users who added the merchant to their watchlist (25%). 

“This is also our way to show our gratitude and appreciation to all our merchant partners for the trust and collaborative partnership that we’ve had in the past few years,” commented Prashant Kala, the GM of ShopBack Ads APAC and acting country manager for the PH market.

Last November, ShopBack launched its livestream feature on the ShopBack app in time for 11.11. At present, the platform revealed that it is also currently in the midst of testing other solutions, such as search advertising and segmented audience optimisations.

“It takes less than 2 days for users to convert to purchase on ShopBack. This gives us a huge opportunity in terms of experimenting on new features for users and providing solutions for partners,” said Kala.

He added, “2023 has just begun, but we are already seeing it as a very promising year. Definitely, more exciting things to come from ShopBack.”

In H2 of 2022, ShopBack announced that it has raised fresh funding of US$80m which will go into further building and growing the platform in APAC. A few months following, the platform unveiled its expansion to Hong Kong, which saw the onboarding of over 250 local to global merchants.