Sterling Group goes into e-commerce

THE STERLING GROUP is making a foray into e-commerce with the acquisition of an online shopping Web site and an app development company.

In a statement over the weekend, Sterling Group announced it has acquired Openovate Labs, and Galleon. ph, which was described as a local version of Amazon.com.

“The acquisition price is confidential. We can confirm only that we now own 85% of the above companies,” Sterling Group Chairman Henry Lim Bon Liong told BusinessWorld when sought for additional details.

In a separate mobile text message, Sterling Vice-President Michelle Lim said the company acquired Openovate Labs from Christian Blanquera, a top software developer.

“Openovate Labs is a software and apps technology developer company with full stack engineers mastering multiple programming languages with clients like LBC, Smart and Globe,” Ms. Lim said.

On the other hand, Galleon. ph is co- owned by Jeffrey Siy and Mr. Blanquera. The Web site, which was developed by Openovate Labs, currently records about 300,000 visitors monthly.

“Galleon. ph is a cross- border e- commerce company that sells items not in the Philippines. We offer a concierge- type of service, we’ll order, pay and ship for you any item from Amazon and other US Web sites straight to your doorstep. No need for credit cards and pick up at the post office,” Ms. Lim said.

Ms. Lim said the new version of Galleon.ph will be launched soon.

Openovate also operates Jobayan. ph, a jobs exchange site similar to JobStreet.com. Jobayan.ph has about 10,000 resumes in its database, which are available for a minimal fee on a per download basis.

It also comes with Salaaap, an online product search system. “It crawls the Web for products ready to purchase and be delivered to where you live. What’s good with it is unlike in other online shopping services, you may pay the product that you order COD (cash on delivery) right on your doorstep. You may choose not to pick it up at the store,” Ms. Lim was quoted as saying in a statement.

Sterling Group, which started as maker of photo albums and stationeries, now has a range of businesses from school and office supplies to real estate and agribusiness. It has also ventured into importation of office furniture and other imported school and office supplies.

Mr. Lim said this is not the first time the company has invested in e- commerce, but the previous investments made since 1998 came prematurely.