Seller’s Hub CEO, President BK Rivera: From gamer to e-comm game-changer
AS an old adage says, it takes one to lead a community. The emergence of digitalization in the past recent years has changed the way people live and enterprises do business. Such has, apparently, been more evident when the Covid-19 crisis happened worldwide in early 2020.
Due to government-imposed lockdowns and strict health protocols, the pandemic disrupted economic activities and restricted mobility. This, in turn, has resulted to digitalization of businesses in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world.
E-commerce, in particular, has grown tremendously, since the peoples’ movement has been limited. With some stuck at their abodes or resort to work from home, their remote conditions have compelled them to go online for most, if not all, of their daily needs.
To no avail of the brick-andmortar as physical stores were either closed or operational in shorter times, consumers have no choice but to “go digital or transition to clickand-mortar,” according to Seller’s Hub, Inc. (SH) CEO and President BK Rivera.
“Digitalization has bridged businesses to reach the customers they haven’t tapped before,” he told the Businessmirror in an interview.
Even before the health crisis, Seller’s Hub has already enabled businesses, especially the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMES), to cater to the demands and aspirations of consumers virtually.
Humble beginnings
BK came from a family that’s not well off. Growing like a typical teenager, he was also hooked to computer games. But unlike those who usually spend their school allowances or ask money from their parents, he was responsible enough to cover it on his own.
“At the age of 13, I sold ice drop and ice candy to pay for the games I played in computer shops. I also sold Vigan longganisa in our street or lent it to my friends’ families. I tried to create my own tocino to sell to my neighbors and in our school. I also sold T-shirts,” he recalled.
Inspired by his licensed civil engineer mother, BK had wanted to follow in her footsteps. But the twist of fate played a big part why he did not fulfill his childhood dream. When his father died, he stood up for his family at a tender age of 17. He said: “I need to become the man of the house. Because of that, I need to become a great example for my two younger sisters.”
BK went into the network marketing in 2014, which he offered to student-participants of his free seminars on self-development. After he graduated from college in 2015, he tried his luck to the field of business process outsourcing for six months, and came back again to network marketing.
Armed with his vast experience and lessons from her civil engineerturned-businesswoman mom, it did not take long for the young businessminded native of Trece Martirez in Cavite to become his own boss.
“In February 28, 2017, I started my own company, the Seller’s Hub, with my out-of-pocket P10,000 capital. Working in a very small room, almost like a computer shop, in General Trias, Cavite where we only have four staff, right now we’re approaching almost a hundred manpower within the Sellers’ Hub and SH partners or people who sell online using our products,” the CEO and president noted.
In six years, the firm has further made its presence felt online—lazada,
Shopee, and Facebook Marketplace—thus, making it a one-stop shop for fellow business owners who are looking for channels to promote and sell their products. Apart from carrying beauty, health and wellness, and home interior items of their merchant-partners the Sellers’ Hub has served the other segments by also developing its very own products that are deemed essential to Filipino lives paving the way to its success in the online business.
“So from Dota player, a typical teenager to someone who penetrated the networking world, I now have my own company,” he said.
Building his own empire
TAKING a cue from the “Hierarchy of Needs” theory of Abraham Maslow, BK was motivated to establish his own firm with five basic categories of needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization.
“When we were starting, that’s just merely a physical need. We need money for our expenditures, so we put up the Seller’s Hub. Then, we sought security on how to sustain our profitability. Third was relationship, or how do we increase and make our people happy. Later on, self-esteem guided us on how we will be appreciated by the people and considered a pillar in this industry. And now is we selfactualize, or how we can help others. We earn and, at the same time, enable other businesses. We will still do it to create an impact, to create a name for our company,” he explained.
Doing so, he admitted, is difficult. Making credibility to become a good employer, for him, has many challenges along the way. One of which is the return to sender (RTS) that comes with a cost. This adds up to expenses they incur from order acceptance, fulfillment, and shipping.
“So when the customer rejects the order, there’s an RTS fee for that, not to mention that the item may be in bad condition already. That’s No. 1 obstacle of e-commerce, and mostly it’s the courier’s fault,” he said of the current state of the logistics infrastructure in the country being the main problem of the online trade. “There are two ways in solving this problem: correction and prevention.”
While the Seller’s Hub still hasn’t perfected its system, the owner boasted that they somehow controlled it. In fact, he cited that from having 30 percent to 35 percent RTS rate, they have managed to bring it down between 15 percent to 22 percent.
“We aim to bring it down further in a way that it could be tolerable. RTS means money that comes in to our pocket yet pulled out by the customer. But we have controlled it,” BK said, while referring to their initiative of methodically monitoring all the orders and their delivery updates to guarantee the quality of their service or product offerings.
“Hopefully, one day, there could be a House Bill that creates a law to help e-commpreneurs or e-commerce players so they won’t be cheated on such shipping fee.”
People development, constant partnerships
APPRECIATIVE of the people who helped him grow the business to where it is right now, the 28-year old entrepreneur bared his plan to constantly increase the firm’s manpower by hiring young professionals from the regions who show great interest in the e-commerce and Philippine markets.
“For me, those who are younger than me have many ideas when it comes to technology that we have right now, and are knowledgeable about the current market trends. So we employ great young talent, then, we learn from them. We help them teach us what to do,” he said of their employees, who are mostly young adults. “But right now, any age we have onboard. This is because when the workplace is full of young people, there could be not enough professionalism, stability, and structure given the ‘peer’ kind of spirit internally. If mostly old enough, on the other hand, there could be not enough innovation and joy. The workplace becomes dry. So it’s a balance of both.”
As the company grows, so do its people and community partners. Hence, the Sellers’ Hub continuously evolves its business strategy with them in mind.
Per BK, they have launched several learning programs internally to further enhance their capacity and strength that will be beneficial in the firm’s growth. Embodying the catchphrase “walk the talk,” he leads by example to his employees and makes sure that he tries himself the products of his merchant-partners to make sure that it’s beneficial to their customers.
Known as “IDOL” among his peers, he also ingrained such core values of IDOL, which stands for Integrity, Driven, Ownership, and Learner, to all the employees and partners. Also, the company is hosting various learning events for them to further understand the market and remain driven as time goes by. These include the Core Culture program to inculcate Company’s DNA; Technical Competency to continuously study and master the changing behavior of their customers; and Leadership Education to equip its people with unique talent and strength that could further drive the organization to new heights.
With its business acumen and techniques developed over time, the Seller’s Hub indeed has become one of the country’s fastest-growing e-commerce enablers today, whose purpose is rooted in transforming lives through life-changing products.
“Growth is only a result. So a company must never aim for growth. A company must aim for operational excellence. Profitability may guarantee growth, but excellence, it will sustain the company,” he stressed.