An idea came up in my head a few years ago but it was a recent post by Aryn Cristobal in Tiktok a few days ago that re-sparked my interest in the idea and now I feel that I should use my platform to have this done and hopefully implemented because I strongly feel that this is worth looking into and the benefits our huge for both platforms and the consumers.

Since the pandemic struck, well, at least to my observation, online shopping has made leaps in bounds. We are now more dependent on e-commerce when it comes to regular items like food and groceries to random items like phone cases, screws, and barbells.

My brother-in-law once commented that our house can be easily mistaken for a Lazada showroom with most of our kitchen and living room appliances and tools all came from Lazada/Shopee purchases.

My smart plugs and smart switches, Wi-Fi mesh routers, and even ethernet cables all came from Lazada and/or Shopee.

The shear ease of searching for ANY random item in both platforms is astonishing. I remember just a few years ago, long before Lazada or Shopee, I needed to look for parts for my Canon DSLR (it was a 450D) and not even Canon themselves had the parts I needed. Fast forward to the present time when I remembered my Canon dilemma. Did a quick search in Lazada and found pages upon pages of camera parts for my camera. The platform is just amazing.

Now going back to my idea. It's actually not a new idea. Rustan's has been doing it for years. They have this gift registry where anyone could just go to Rustan's open an account and give Rustan's a list of items that they specifically like and they would give their account name to their friends and relatives for them to go through and pick and buy the items in that list. 

It's such a smart thing to do:

1. It defeats having your friends and family think of what you want to receive.
2. It defeats the chance of receiving multiples of the same item.
3. It defeats the opportunity to receive an item you don't want (well, you can actually recycle the gift but what if you accidentally give it back to the one who gave it to you before?).

Wishlists are also not new to Lazada. Maybe to Shopee but Lazada has had the option for a long time. At first, I thought that you can share that list to friends and they can just buy it for you, pay for it, and Lazada will do the rest. When I tried sending my list to my friends, it would just bring them to their wishlist and not mine.

So hear me out. Let me enumerate how I am seeing them implementing this:

1. They can have a link similar to like https://wishlist.lazada.com/eboybautista123 or https://wishlist.shopee.ph/eboybautista123 or some thing like that.
2. Anybody can access it regardless if they have their own Lazada/Shopee account or not. (it would be more beneficial if they already have their own account but not necessary)
3. They choose an item in the wishlist and BUY it for the list owner. (NOTE: the item must already be paid for upon checkout. Either by credit card, PayMaya, or Gcash. No COD, I'm afraid)
4. Upon checkout, they have the option to leave a dedication either in a form of text or an image (maybe the giver can send a selfie to inform the receiver who bought it for them)
5. Lazada/Shopee ships the item out. The payer does not need to know your contact info because your contact info is already in the system.

I am seeing it as a win for everyone:

1. 

   Lazada/Shopee widens its reach to more people outside their market scope (because all they need is to receive payment).
2. Friends and family living in countries with no local version of Lazada/Shopee can still send you gifts.
3. You as the gift giver do not need to go and ask your friends what they want as a gift.
4. You as the gift giver do not need to guess or think what is fitting for your recipient.

At this point, I am actually wondering why Lazada/Shopee are not doing it. They should. I have a sh*t ton of items in my cart that I cannot check out just yet but also know of a lot of people who want to give me a gift but imagine the hassle of having them message you and you giving them the link. I feel like it's too many steps instead of having a wishlist link and just allow them to choose what they can afford to get you. Everybody wins. What do you think? Do you agree with me or not? If you disagree but know of a better way, hit me up on the comments below or in my socials. CIAO!