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Retail and E-commerce Summit Asia 2022: Carla Perlas shares the story behind The Parentinc

RESA Blog

Retail and E-commerce Summit Asia 2022 begins in a few days and we are very excited to present to you our remarkable thought leaders who will impart their astonishing insights regarding the retail and e-commerce industry in the Philippines. As we move closer to the big day, Rockbird Media sat with Carla Perlas, the VP of Communications of The Parent Inc. A parent-tech company whose subsidiaries include theAsianparent, the highest-rated parenting app in the world and Southeast Asia’s largest content and community platform, hitting 35 million users monthly. Another subsidiary of The Parent Inc is Mama’s Choice, an award-winning direct-to-consumer brand that produces pregnancy, nursing, baby care, and household products. There are also Webtretho and Bé Yéu, Vietnam’s largest community platforms for women and mothers. 

Carla has been in the media, tech and startup space field for over 19 years. She has devoted her career in evolving content and establishing communities, accommodating women and parents specifically. In this episode of Spotlight Interview, we will get to know more about Carla on the country’s retail and e-commerce industry, the story behind The Parent Inc and more on her wise insights in her journey as VP of Communications. 

When asked what is the one thing people must know about retail and e-commerce in the Philippines, she wants people to understand that the most effective strategy is to know customers several levels deeper. The Parent Inc caters mothers specifically, calling them Chief Household Officers. In regards to how they work, Carla shared that they go deeper into knowing their customers. They analyze what are the things they like, what makes them tick. In order to know the CHOs better, they study them and do market research every year. They even study the mothers’ online behavior. For example, what  are they like online, how long are they online for, what type of content do they usually consume. The Parentinc’s way is to know them more intimately than just considering them as one cluster so that they would be able to attend to them much better. “Get to know your customers, but get to know your customers several layers deeper,” Carla stated. 

The Parent Inc truly is a very interesting and amazing idea for mothers and women, especially people who mostly spend their time in the comfort of their homes in the midst of restrictions. When asked about the story behind the community platform, the VP answered, “We started with theAsianparent when we launched so theAsianparent started out as a blog, targeting asian parents, at the time we saw a need for relevant content for parents who are asian. Because a lot of materials are based in western philosophies/findings, that’s why it started out as a blog.” They realized that more and more parents were consuming their content and the community that they have ended up building, so now it became more than just a content platform. It became a community platform where they also want to provide the best service that they could for the parents, whether they’re looking for content that is suited to their parental stage. Having that mindset to know each and every customer deeply, we can imagine the amount of detail they put into learning about their community and to be able to cater to the customers or parents’ specific needs based on their parenting journey. Then a few years ago after the pandemic hit, they launched Mama’s Choice, their direct-to-consumer brand. “Because we want to be able to also address the needs of parents that are safe, natural and even halal. We also have our Indonesian and Malaysian market who are searching for ingredients that are in line with their lifestyle or religious beliefs. Also for the parents who are worried about unsafe chemicals and ingredients in their products. There might be similar products but mostly aren’t affordable. So that’s why the Mama’s Choice is launched to address those needs. So The Parentinc is a content, community and commerce platform for parents.” Added the VP. 

Ending the interview, Carla has a message for the leaders in retail and e-commerce in the Philippines. “Make it personal. Make it relevant. Nothing touches a consumer more than when a brand understands their woes, the challenges they face, concerns and issues that they deal everyday. That’s where you should start. Identify what makes them tick, cry, and happy. Identify what solutions there are that address their specific problems. It’s not about marketers and brands but it’s always about the customers.”

We give you a warm welcome to join Carla Perlas together with the other aspiring thought leaders as they share their wonderful and great views  in the event’s Panel Discussion: Winning the customer attention – building a competitive and strong D2C strategy on July 28th, 2022 at City of Dreams Manila. 

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About rockbird media

Rockbird media is an international business media company that produces B2B events and offers business solutions.