Jackie Chan said, “I enjoy putting a smile on people’s faces. It’s exciting to partner with Shopee to celebrate the action-packed year-end festival and bring more joy to my fans and Shopee users. I had a lot of fun working with Shopee and I think people of all ages will enjoy the activities and content that we have prepared together. I hope everyone can join us to make the year-end shopping season a memorable one.”

I was one of the first ones to know about this during the media launch I attended with other bloggers, influencers, and media partners of Shopee.  The media launch as expected, was full of raffle prizes (which I am forever unlucky with), surprise announcements of the 9.9 Super Shopping Day promos, lovely performance from singer-songwriter Kitchie Nadal, and food!  Below are some highlights during that day!

Shopee pioneered the first 9.9 Super Shopping Day in 2016. Each year, it marks the start of a highly anticipated year-end shopping season across the region. A survey conducted by Shopee revealed that over 90% of users across the region proactively seek out information to make better purchase decisions during the campaigns. The mega shopping season also tends to attract new online shoppers, with 43% of shoppers making their first-ever online purchase during the year-end campaigns.

From now till September 9, Shopee has lined up the best deals and activities. Shoppers can satisfy all their shopping needs, win exciting rewards from their favorite games on Shopee Prizes, and enjoy non-stop entertainment with special appearances by their favorite celebrities.

Martin Yu, Director at Shopee Philippines, said, “The pandemic continues to affect both individuals and businesses. As communities continue to live, work, shop, and play from home, we have stepped up our efforts to ensure users have access to their daily essentials through our shopping campaigns. We are also committed to supporting local MSMEs and have launched a series of support initiatives as well as Support Local campaigns to generate greater visibility and enable users to easily identify and support local businesses. We look forward to bringing some joy to our local communities during this year-end season.”

1. Find the biggest deals, all in one place

This 9.9 Super Shopping Day, shoppers can enjoy free shipping with no minimum spend, 20% cashback, and Daily ₱1 Deals, on top of these amazing perks:

●      Lowest price deals - Users can find the hottest products with the biggest discounts all in one place at Shopee’s special ‘Daily ₱1 Deals’ microsite, which they can easily locate from Shopee’s home page. 

●      Mega Midnight Sale - Following its success during the inaugural 4.4 Mega Shopping Day, Shopee brings back the 2-hour Midnight Mega Sale. Shoppers can grab unbeatable deals on thousands of products, including those from Shopee Mall, from 12AM to 2AM on September 9. 

●      Greater rewards with ShopeePay - As part of Shopee’s commitment to provide a convenient, secure, and rewarding shopping experience, users can enjoy exclusive promotions and deals by using Shopee’s in-app e-wallet, ShopeePay. All users have to do is to use ShopeePay to pay for their purchases, both online and offline, at thousands of branches from participating merchants nationwide. Until September 8, shoppers can Buy Load and get ₱5 mobile data for only ₱1; Pay Bills to enjoy up to 50% cashback when they pay for Meralco, Maynilad, and more; and Scan to Pay to score ShopeePay ₱1 Deals from Puregold, Seaoil, Potato Corner, and more.

2. Satisfy all shopping needs

From daily essentials to premium items, Shopee offers a wide assortment of products. With millions of brands and sellers, as well as a wide network of online and offline partners, there is something for everyone at Shopee. 

●    Shopee Mall Big Brand Discounts - In addition to everyday products, users can expect great deals from their favorite brands on Shopee’s dedicated in-app portal for authentic brands. 91%of shoppers say the mega shopping campaigns enabled them to discover and buy brands they never tried before, while 75% indicated they were more likely to continue using these new brands rather than switching back to their usual ones. At the 9.9 Super Shopping Day, shoppers can expect up to 30% off brand vouchers and up to 90% off on leading brands such as Abbott, Havaianas, Maybelline, Nestlé, Colgate-Palmolive, Breyleemall.ph, Del Monte, Unilever Beauty, Adidas, P&G Beauty, Enfagrow, Huawei, Vivo, Pampers, Realme, and Xiaomi.

●      Support Local - Local businesses have been greatly impacted by the pandemic. This shopping season, users can give these local sellers the boost they need to recover and grow. Through the Pili Pinoy campaign, users can help preserve local culture and play their part in supporting the local economy by patronizing shops such as Abubot PH, Joy Marcelo RTW Clothing, Via Christi, Tazanna, and Tala by Kyla.

3. Experience non-stop entertainment with your favorite celebrities, exciting games, and attractive rewards

Shopee’s in-app engagement features continue to entertain and delight users. In the first half of 2021, Shopee recorded over 200% uplift in time spent on Shopee Live year-on-year. This 9.9 Super Shopping Day, Shopee will deliver upsized excitement through a line-up of the biggest superstars, exciting games, and attractive rewards.

●  Jackie Chan to thrill and entertain shoppers - This year, Shopee brings on international superstar Jackie Chan to be a part of its year-end shopping season, sparking tremendous excitement across the region. Users can catch him in exclusive content on Shopee Live and in-app games such as Shopee Spin & Win, Shopee Shake, and the latest Shopee Collectibles.

●      Big giveaways and performances during the 9.9 Super Shopping Day TV Special - Viewers can tune in to GMA 7 and Shopee Live this September 9 for a chance to win millions worth of cash prizes and giveaways, including two house and lot packages. Fans can also expect performances from a leading K-Pop group.

●    Exciting rewards from games on Shopee Prizes - Users can look forward to earning rewards from their favorite games on Shopee Prizes.

○      A key highlight this year will be Shopee Collectibles, where users stand a chance to win super-sized prizes by collecting a full set of in-game items.

○   Users can collect items by playing popular games such as Shopee Farm and Shopee Candy, or trading items with their friends.

Find out more about 9.9 Super Shopping Day here: https://shopee.ph/m/99.  Download the Shopee app for free via the App Store or Google Play.

A 3-day online summit happening on July 30-August 1 is set to equip families who face another school year of home-based learning. The summit is organized by a local group of homeschooling moms who have been supporting families since 2013 through their empowering events.

Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, partners with Puregold to offer its customers a safer payment method via ShopeePay, its integrated mobile wallet. Starting today, customers can pay for their groceries using ShopeePay in over 406 Puregold branches nationwide and can enjoy up to 20% cashback starting today until December 31, 2021.

With more Filipinos embracing cashless transactions and digital payment methods gaining traction, Shopee continues to offer a wide range of digital payment options to cater to Filipinos' evolving needs, including ShopeePay, our mobile wallet.

Ferdinand Vincent Co, President at Puregold, said, “Puregold is excited to partner with ShopeePay for this initiative. At Puregold, we want to give our customers only the best kind of service and overall quality shopping experience, and that includes easier and safer payment methods. Through the convenience of digital payments, we aim to increase customer enthusiasm while consumers maintain their purchasing power.”

Martin Yu, Director at Shopee Philippines, said, “We are always thrilled to partner with one of the Filipinos’ favorite brands, such as Puregold. Through ShopeePay,  we strive to ensure that users can shop and pay with ease. In addition to the ease of use, ShopeePay offers several benefits to users which include convenience, a seamless user experience, security, and greater cost savings. Shopee will continue to collaborate with more brand partners to make paying for online purchases easier for Filipinos amidst the pandemic and beyond.” 

For shoppers opting to pay via ShopeePay, here are six easy steps to follow:  

1. Inform the cashier you would like to pay via ShopeePay 
2. Go to your ShopeePay wallet action bar and tap “Scan.”
3. Click QR / Barcode
4. Enter your 6-digit ShopeePay PIN
5. Present generated QR code to cashier for scanning 
6. You will receive a confirmation of your payment

Download the Shopee app for free via the App Store or Google Play and pay for groceries via ShopeePay to get 20% cashback on Puregold purchases. 

I couldn't stress how important it is these days to consume healthy and fresh foods like fruits and vegetables to increase wellness and immunity grade of our family.  It's certainly isn't just a trend but a way of life that has got many of us shifted to since the pandemic.

However, did you know that fruits and vegetables start to lose vitamin content from the moment they are harvested up to the time they are consumed?  These vitamins are key for boosting the immune system, promoting a healthier heart, supporting healthy cognitive brain function and providing natural antioxidants to protect the body from disease.

Good thing I learned from a recent online event I attended that there's a new technology that could help fruits and vegetables stored in the refrigerator stay as nutritious as the day we bought them - HarvestFresh in Beko fridges.

Inspired by nature, powered by light, HarvestFresh is the innovative technology developed for Beko fridges. HarvestFresh uses three colors—green, blue and red—to mimic the 24-hour sun cycle and natural sunlight.

"We believe in creating technology that responds to the needs of consumers. With HarvestFresh, we are helping them eat healthy and vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables," said Gurhan Gunal, Country Manager of Beko Pilipinas Corporation.

HarvestFresh and Beko's other technologies are consistent with its mission of empowering the new generations to live healthier and providing accessible wellbeing for their consumers.

For more information, visit Beko Philippines’ Facebook page at facebook.com/bekoph.k

Moms take care of so many things in the household.  Apart from the chores, moms take care of their kids', spend time to tutor their online schooling children, perform wife duties, work from home or do their rakets to make a living and help with expenses, and lastly, worry with so many other things.  Top of the list is this pandemic that's been dragging on for too long.  Everyone wants this to end because it has affected the economy, left many jobless, and created too much anxiety leading to headache and other physical pains.  Good thing, for headaches, there's Saridon.

This doesn't only happen to moms, but to politicians, other professionals, and yes, even celebrities as well such as Vice Ganda.  Though they appear to be always glam and beautiful, behind those smiles are of course anxieties and worries that is brought by the pandemic.

Here's a glimpse of the Q&A with Vice Ganda, during the Saridon Triple Action event I recently attended via Zoom:

What is Saridon®?

Saridon is an analgesic or pain killer indicated for the following:

1. Relief of mild to severe headaches,
2. Relief of pains such as headache, toothache, menstrual discomfort, post-operative and rheumatic pain
3. Relief of pain and fever associated with colds and flu

What amazes me is that Saridon has Caffeine!  Saridon is fast and provides better pain relief! That’s the effect of caffeine! Works in as fast as 15 minutes vs. Paracetamol.

To deal with unexpected headaches, you need something you can trust. Try Paracetamol + Propyphenazone + Caffeine (Saridon Triple Action). Its caffeine content, when combined with other analgesics like Paracetamol and Propyphenazone, makes it work in as fast as 15 minutes and provide better pain relief vs. 500mg plain Paracetamol.

Paracetamol + Propyphenazone + Caffeine (Saridon Triple Action) associate marketing manager Toby Manlapat shares, “This pandemic has been a challenge to all of us who need to relieve headaches fast in order to get back to one’s normal disposition.”

At only Php5/tablet, Saridon will not give you more pain especially when it comes to expenses.  Saridon makes lives of every Filipino an easier one, especially these days.

March is Women's Month and I felt celebrated when Google hosted a live event on YouTube called  "Digiskarteng Pinay."  It's an online event to demonstrate how women can learn new skills and create livelihood opportunities through YouTube. It highlighted the experiences of successful female YouTube content creators and the stories of inspiring ma-Digiskarteng Pinays who used YouTube to bounce back from the pandemic.

“At a time when women’s resources are being hit the hardest, YouTube remains to be a platform that they can use to their advantage. It allows them to upskill and seize the opportunities of the growing digital economy to augment their lives and those around them,” said Bernadette Nacario, Google Philippines’ Country Head.
 
Digiskarteng Pinay is done in partnership with nonprofit organizations, government agencies and YouTube creators who contribute videos on various topics such as Family Nutrition, Financial Literacy, Beauty and Fashion, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Coding Skills, Technical Skills, Mindset Skills, and Native Arts and Crafts.
 
“Digiskarteng Pinay empowers women to learn and develop skills in their own time and pace so they can take full control of their lives while pursuing growth and entrepreneurial opportunities,” says Google Philippines’ Industry Head Gara Santos-Ontiveros.
 
Striving forward 
 
Madiskarte women Juliette Piquero and working student Dielian Certeza turned to YouTube to start their own businesses when the pandemic hit.
 
After leaving her job as an Accountant, Juliette stayed in the province to take a break but found herself staying far longer than planned due to the lockdowns. Being naturally fond of cooking, she spent her spare time wanting to level-up her skills and learning how to bake. After picking up recipes and tips from local channels like Madiskarteng Nanay, Chef RV Manabat, and Lutong Tinapay, she turned her hobby into an online cake shop called Nenita's CAKES and Pastries.

Digiskarteng Pinay Juliette started baking as a pandemic hobby by watching YouTube tutorials and eventually turned it into a bonafide online business called Nenita's CAKES and Pastries

“YouTube makes it very easy for us to learn new things at our own pace. Because it is accessible anywhere and anytime, I had more opportunities to equip myself with the latest techniques in baking. I used it as my reference for recipes to baking trends, which now translated to sales. It definitely helped me and my family during these challenging times,” Juliette shared.Dielian

For other Pinays who are having second thoughts about pursuing putting up a business, Deilian advises, "YouTube is like a free school. Small-scale entrepreneurs like me who have no formal background in cooking can instantly feel like a chef. Just trust the process, calm your mind and your heart, and find what you are passionate about."
 
Passion for a purpose
For multi-awarded actress Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo, her YouTube channel started like any other—an outlet to share what she loves doing. Now with over 1.5 million subscribers, the actress shared that has seen her channel grow into being a destination for women to learn new skills and even create entrepreneurial opportunities.