Mom-trepreneur Reggie Bundang?s online gift shop targets OFWs who want to send gifts to their families here, as well as busy professionals who have no time to visit the malls.

ALL of us have talents, but not all of us get the opportunity to shine.

Luckily for Reggie Isada Bundang, she got such a chance in 2006. For this mother of two, working from home at her own pace while continuing to be a hands-on parent during her children?s tender years were good enough reasons to quit a well-paying job and start her own e-business.

?My previous jobs as business development and product manager with banks, telcos and a remittance company required frequent travel locally and abroad, looking for new growth areas,? Reggie recalls. Though professionally rewarding, the jobs were also stressful and did not allow enough room to raise a proper family. ?My husband and I would tease each other about the possibility of us enrolling children in prep-school when we?re already in our 40s,? she adds.

Going the e-commerce route was the most practical for starting entrepreneurs like herself, Reggie says. For one, it doesn?t require stiff capitalization (for brick-and-mortar shops, for instance) and allows for the flexibility of working at home.

Why not an online gift store, Reggie decided then. Her travels and online banking experience gave her spot-on insights on the saving and buying habits of consumers, while her passion for shopping and web-surfing added to her confidence that she knew enough to do business with the growing community of shoppers in the world of e-tailing.

Online gift retailing has been described as a crowded field, but the undaunted Reggie saw ?a big market? for RegaloService.com. ?Internet shoppers want convenience in shopping and are looking for items at the right price. Online buyers abroad, including OFWs, have also become comfortable using the Net to buy stuff and do bank transactions.? Even Filipinos who visit shopping sites only to look at the catalogs and compare prices are potential buyers, she adds.

Launched in October 2006, www.regaloservice.com actively promoted the concept of convenience shopping and sourcing of hard to find products, which Reggie describes as a winning formula. The site targets overseas Filipinos who want to send gifts to their loved ones here, as well as Net-savvy buyers who are too busy to shop but have to attend the countless family gatherings that are part of the Filipino culture, and which of course include gift-giving.

Her business plan included a simple, clean-looking website that makes visitors feel like they?re leafing through a magazine or shopping in a mall. There are links to the ?RegaloService Notes Ezine? blog that Reggie herself writes, the Gift Registry Sign-up, as well as easy-to-navigate gift choices based on Special Occasions, Brands, and so on.

A year after its launch, www.RegaloService. com won as best website in the gifts category in the DigitalFilipino Club Awards 2007 and as Best Information Communication Technology Practice in the Philippines from the APEC Digital Opportunity Center awarded in Taiwan.

But what Reggie takes particular pride in is the secure payment gateway provided by her gift site. RegaloService.com accepts PayPal and credit card payments and uses the US-based 2CO (www.2checkout.com), a trusted player in e-commerce. Shoppers, she adds, are assured that all given information remains confidential.

Gifts are delivered within 24 to 48 hours by two courier companies straight to the intended recipient within the Philippines and abroad or at the buyers? door step, in case they prefer to personally hand over their presents. ?For provincial destinations, that would be two to three days. International deliveries take up three to seven days,? says Reggie. On peak seasons like Christmas, Mother?s Day and Valentine?s Day, however, there are cut-off periods to cope with the heavy volume of transactions. For gift deliveries before December 24, for instance, orders should be placed by December 19.

There are some limitations though, Reggie admits. Food and other merchandise requiring delicate arrangements are only delivered within Metro Manila. For areas not covered by partner-couriers, the company makes arrangements with customers to collect the items themselves at the courier?s Business Center. Delivery costs vary and are determined by the destination, value and weight of the product. The minimum order accepted should be equivalent to US$20.

Problems, Reggie acknowledges, do crop up, but they have yet to experience returned merchandise arising from damaged goods or wrong delivery. The only time a product was ever returned was when a client in Thailand refused to accept the delivery of a kitchen appliance because of high custom duties in his country. Reggie had the item returned to her base and immediately reversed the credit card payment.

Trust is her business mantra, she says, and is part of customer service. ?Tell your customers the truth and they will respect and trust you more. E-commerce is beyond retailing, it is a service business. It is all about user experience and how they feel about their experience with you,? she explains.

Three years ago, RegaloService.com had five merchant partners. It now has 47 partners offering more than 300 product lines that range from books and magazines to electronics, appliances, office and school accessories, skin care, CDs, custom jewelry and other personalized gifts.

Their lowest priced items are CDs at US$8, while a painting by hobbyist artist Mita Dimalanta is the costliest at US$840. Since the start of this year, the gift portal has seen strong sales in gift baskets from Terry?s Selection, Cocozen Novuhair from Nutramedica, cakes from Bizu Patisserie, hams from Vienna Hams, cameras from AIPTEK, songbooks from Jesuit Communications, leather journals from Author?s Avenue, fashion accessories from Blandior, Exofat Forte 500 and Cocozen by Cory Quirino, Forever Young kit from Nutramedica, gourmet brownies from Casa Xocolat, deep fryers from American Heritage, flowers from Blooms and Foliage Inspirations, flowers from Sonata Floral Masterpieces and candy arrangements from Pick and Mix Candies.

Reggie isn?t ready to disclose the number of monthly page hits her virtual shop receives and how much of this traffic turns to actual sales. ?We?re not as big as the market leader here,? she admits, ?but we are profitable because of the scalability of our business. I think we?ve found our niche.?

Before the year ends, this e-tailing mom will launch her second business, www.pinoypartyfood.com, a one-stop portal where busy professionals, schools, companies and, yes again, OFWs can order food for their parties.

?I have experienced the thrill of the e-commerce roller-coaster ride and have reached the point of no return. If you build it, they will come,? says Reggie. ?