The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), PLDT, and Smart bring another opportunity for farmers and agro-enterprise merchants to embrace technology in boosting their livelihood and income through the Buy Local Bazaar.
In partnership with TikTok Philippines, the Buy Local Bazaar is a special shopping sales event at TikTok Shop promoting agriculture products of the ATI and PLDT and Smart’s partner farmers across the Philippine regions. The campaign introduces the merchants to a marketing strategy called ‘shoppertainment’, which brings entertainment into commerce and provides a one-stop shopping experience for its users. Powered by TikTok’s unique content and discovery system, the platform makes shopping community-driven, relevant, and fun through videos and livestreams.
“The expertise and network of our partners from PLDT, Smart, and TikTok Philippines can help the Department of Agriculture and the ATI advance our mission to build more economies of scale, and solidify the sector’s path to overall industrialization and modernization,” said ATI Director Remelyn Recoter.
In further assisting the partner merchants, PLDT and Smart led a series of learning sessions covering topics on social media marketing, online content generation, and creation of a Social Media Marketing Plan, among others.
Among the participating merchants in this campaign are ATI-certified Learning Sites for Agriculture and 4-H Club members from Nueva Ecija (Myriad Farms), Oriental Mindoro (El Prado Verde Farms, Inc.), Camarines Sur (Porto Kitchen), Albay (Nettles Garden Agri Farm), and Leyte (Cala Integrated Farm).
“We at PLDT and Smart believe that technology plays a significant role in boosting Filipino livelihoods, especially during the pandemic. We have witnessed how learning about and utilizing digital tools can help farming communities and other enterprises adapt to changing times. This collaboration with TikTok and the Department of Agriculture can help level up our partners’ entrepreneurial skills,” noted Cathy Yang, First Vice President, and Head of Group Corporate Communications at PLDT and Smart.
The Buy Local Bazaar was launched in May in line with the celebration of this year’s Farmers and Fisherfolk’s Month. TikTok provided the participating farmer merchants with subsidies in the form of discounts, vouchers, and other promotional marketing activities, which helped provide more opportunities for local farmers and agripreneurs to establish presence in the e-commerce platform and attract new customers.
TikTok Shop has been introduced to the Philippines in 2022 and has onboarded over 80 local farmers and agripreneurs to the platform through the Buy Local Bazaar.
