Social commerce targets $5-B collectibles market

Toki, the first-ever social commerce platform in the Philippines exclusively dedicated to collectibles, has officially launched in the country. Toki's mission is to offer a streamlined and fully secure experience for the growing collectibles market.

According to a Toki and GMO Research study, the Philippine market is currently valued at $5 billion. Despite this sizable number, buyers and sellers still navigate an unsecured and convoluted trading journey without a dedicated marketplace to seamlessly facilitate transactions.

To date, collectors traverse the buying process — from discovery to purchase — in a fragmented manner.

"We at the Toki team are all passionate collectors ourselves," shared Zoe Ocampo, one of the founders of Toki. "For so long, searching for collectibles and purchasing an item hasn't been ideal. Usually, we start the journey with social networks or messaging applications, and from there, one has to sift through at least 10 different sellers, unsure of the credibility and authenticity of their products. It has been consistently tedious and filled with unnecessary friction."

Toki will feature the first four categories for its launch — Sneakers, LEGO, NBA Cards and Funko Pops! — some of the most popular collectibles in the market.

Custom-fit to respond to the needs of both buyers and sellers

As a platform built to support the entire community, Toki is dedicated to making the journey safer and more exhilarating for buyers and sellers. Aside from proposing a digital marketplace, Toki is also a livestream auction platform, harnessing the power of real-time engagement to enhance the collectibles trading experience.

Toki enhances the quality of the transactional process for sellers, many of whom operate through social media — limiting them when it comes to setting up an inventory system and storefront management.

This leaves sellers dealing with unsecured payment systems, manual logistics management, and customer support. These are significant challenges, particularly for sellers who are frequently solo entrepreneurs.

Ensuring a straightforward and seamless end-to-end journey for sellers is also why Toki has partnered with GCash and NinjaVan to structure and create tailored solutions.

"A well-organized, responsible, and trustworthy seller is an essential element for a successful buying experience," Jules Jurado, co-founder of Toki, said. "Toki aims to address this by ensuring that its marketplace only hosts sellers who have successfully passed our selection and scoring system and that the Toki verification team checks all products, so there would be no question whether the product you're getting is genuine and reliable."

Made for collectors, by collectors

The founders of Toki share a common passion for collecting. Zoe Ocampo, Jules Jurado, Prabh Singh and Frederic Levy are also former executives of GCash, collectively bringing extensive experience in technology and venture building.

Toki's innovative approach to the digital collector's market has gained support from top-tier angel investors and notable strategic backers such as Anthony Oundjian of BCG, Brian Cu of SariSuki, Ernest Cu of Globe, venture capital firms Kaya Founders and Foxmont Capital Partners, and Bigboy Cheng, one of the most famous sneaker, toys and art collectors in SEA.