Toki, which bills itself as the “first social commerce platform in the country that caters to collectibles”, is aiming to grow its market base despite being a just few months old. In a media event held last July 10, Toki chief executive officer Frederic Levy recalled the founding of the company with his three other former GCash executives. Levy, along with co-founders founders Zoe Ocampo, Jules Jurado, Prabh Singh, remained in contact with each other after leaving GCash, and were looking for the “next-big-thing.
” Their market research led them to the niche of e-commerce and collectibles. Collectibles is a $65-billion market in Southeast Asia as 46% of Southeast Asians and 37% of Filipinos identify themselves as collectors. However, with 90% of transactions happening online, collectors face issues with authenticity, handling, and logistics, in their transaction.
The Toki founders banded together to venture into the online shopping landscape in the country by being a specialist, catering to the collector’s market. They launched “tokiasia.com” in November 2023, and it has since grown with over 60,000 registered users.
“Trust is the top concern of Toki. So, any seller who applies to the site is screened carefully and [we] even do physical inspections of the items and stocks being sold,” Levy said. The limited number of sellers allows Toki to guarantee the buyers a great collecting experience without fake items or misleading postings.
Ocampo, also the Toki chief .
