Life without Amazon
I've just moved to Manila for a year or two, and will be developing software for clients including the company back in Scotland that I previously worked for.
The Philippines is a wonderful country (so far, I've been here 10 days), with extremely friendly people and a whole host of malls and websites.
Within a few minutes walk of our hotel are 5 malls (of which we've visited two). One is particularly upmarket (Shangri-La Mall) and features UK high street staples including Debenhams, Marks and Spencers and Mothercare. Apart from the air conditioning and the lack of a view of the castle it could be Edinburgh.
The next nearest mall is the SM Mega Mall, the third largest mall in the Philippine and the 7th largest in the world (the Philippinos like their shopping malls, free AC for a start).
So, 7th largest shopping mall in the world, right on my doorstep, and I want to buy a new laptop (and check out the prices), so I go online to their site.
Two things. Firstly I tried it on the new toy (the iPad), but I get as far as the store directory, and its in Flash, so a non-starter.
So I move to a laptop and try again. Get to the store directory. It's a little slow as it loads its entire database of shops onto my laptop for the sake of asking a few questions. Why are the queries interpreted client side rather than server side? Especially with the bandwidth limitations in Manila (more of that later). Don't know.
Anyhow, I browse and find I want to search for all gadget shops. It returns me an answer in a text box. I can see all the gadget shops in the MegaMall starting from AAA to about Ar (Arrow) - BUT THERE'S NO DAMN SCROLLBAR! (sorry for shouting). If I was looking for Sony I'm snookered unless I type in Sony explicitly. If I'm looking for a local brand of laptop that might give me better value for money, and benefit the local economy, I'm snookered. I don't know that local brand.
And this is before I get to the shop!
Already I miss Amazon. Can I volunteer to set up the Amazon franchise serving Metro Manila? By now I'd have ordered my laptop, wouldn't have to go to the store, could carry on working, and the right laptop would be delivered to my door tomorrow.
Now I have to adopt the behaviour of millions of teenagers worldwide, and spend my weekend wandering aimlessly around a mall. I really thought I had grown out of that.
The Philippines is a wonderful country (so far, I've been here 10 days), with extremely friendly people and a whole host of malls and websites.
Within a few minutes walk of our hotel are 5 malls (of which we've visited two). One is particularly upmarket (Shangri-La Mall) and features UK high street staples including Debenhams, Marks and Spencers and Mothercare. Apart from the air conditioning and the lack of a view of the castle it could be Edinburgh.
The next nearest mall is the SM Mega Mall, the third largest mall in the Philippine and the 7th largest in the world (the Philippinos like their shopping malls, free AC for a start).
So, 7th largest shopping mall in the world, right on my doorstep, and I want to buy a new laptop (and check out the prices), so I go online to their site.
Two things. Firstly I tried it on the new toy (the iPad), but I get as far as the store directory, and its in Flash, so a non-starter.
So I move to a laptop and try again. Get to the store directory. It's a little slow as it loads its entire database of shops onto my laptop for the sake of asking a few questions. Why are the queries interpreted client side rather than server side? Especially with the bandwidth limitations in Manila (more of that later). Don't know.
Anyhow, I browse and find I want to search for all gadget shops. It returns me an answer in a text box. I can see all the gadget shops in the MegaMall starting from AAA to about Ar (Arrow) - BUT THERE'S NO DAMN SCROLLBAR! (sorry for shouting). If I was looking for Sony I'm snookered unless I type in Sony explicitly. If I'm looking for a local brand of laptop that might give me better value for money, and benefit the local economy, I'm snookered. I don't know that local brand.
And this is before I get to the shop!
Already I miss Amazon. Can I volunteer to set up the Amazon franchise serving Metro Manila? By now I'd have ordered my laptop, wouldn't have to go to the store, could carry on working, and the right laptop would be delivered to my door tomorrow.
Now I have to adopt the behaviour of millions of teenagers worldwide, and spend my weekend wandering aimlessly around a mall. I really thought I had grown out of that.
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