Multiply Shopping

by: Keren Keziah Cajes

Insomnia attack! Working in a call center for almost a year changed my biological clock. Now I sleep in the morning, and not at night. To get rid of boredom and to be able to sleep, I decided to face the computer and browse the cyber world until my eyes get tired and be forced to close themselves. Weird. I can’t think of other ways so I went on with the plan. I logged in to my Multiply account. For those who are not familiar with the site, Multiply is a social networking site where you have your own profile, add friends and send messages to them. You can also create your own blog – which is actually my favorite feature since I often write various sorts of stuffs about myself, what I see around, and what I feel.Multiply is just like the ever-famous Friendster, though I like the first one very much than the latter because of its more personalized URL. I’m sure you’d love to have www.name.multiply.com as your very own web address than www.profiles.friendster.com/name. Anyway, I went to one of my friend’s profile and something caught my attention. She has comments as “Thank you for purchasing products from us. Till next transaction!” Hmmm..online shopping? I checked out the person’s profile and voila! An online shop indeed! This is cool! For ladies like me who love to shop but don’t have the time (and sometimes the money J), this is just perfect! I’ve heard of online shops years ago from Hollywood movies but I was not expecting that Filipinos would adopt this kind of business. So I went to the shop’s photos to view their products. Dresses, accessories, shoes, cosmetics, even cellphones and laptops are there! Technology has indeed reached the hearts and minds of the masses. I don’t have to go out and visit every store in the city to shop. Now with just a few clicks you can now have your favorite stuffs right in front of your door! Oh and by the way, you don’t have to have credit cards to do online shopping. Payments can be sent through Gcash or Smart money. Very hassle-free! And the prices? Very affordable! Although you have to pay for the shipping fee (which ranges from Php90-Php110 only for 3-4 items), they’re still very practical since you still have your energy reserved to do other things. So I tried ordering this Havaianas replica worth Php160 just to check the quality of their products. Now what? I forgot the main reason why I opened my computer. I was trying to put myself to sleep but now I’m enjoying this newly discovered thingy. I didn’t feel any regrets. I found a new hobby! It doesn’t mean that I have to spend cash all the time. We have this what we call ‘window shopping’ right? We can also do that through the internet. Hmmm.. What name should we use for that? Any suggestions? LOL! I’m going to tell all my friends about this. To all offline shop owners, don’t get mad at me. You can also have your very own online shop you know. I’m just trying to spread the news of this very easy way of purchasing your products. People’s lives in this new generation are fast-paced. So they’d rather shop while at home than to stroll around the city, which adds a lot of stress to them. The day after, I got the Havs on my hands! And the quality rocks! They look like the exact Havaianas. Well that’s the meaning of the word ‘replica’ right? But there are other replicas that suck. This one’s different. So that’s it. I got this cheap but cool pair of slippers without consuming much of my carbohydrate-given energy. Now for all sons and daughters of Adam who don’t believe that Filipinos are resourceful and creative, there’s no room for racial discrimination anymore. So you better think again.