The Philippine E-Commerce Association of the Philippines (PECA) projects sustaining its growth this year as more Filipinos turn to online shopping.
Jere Von Basa, PECA president, told reporters the e-commerce industry in the Philippines will continue to grow faster this year and beyond.
“Right now we have about eight million online sellers in the Philippines and based on Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) data, the industry’s monthly sales range between P2 billion to P3 billion,” Basa said.
“The growing trend of e-commerce in the Philippines has brought good news to many establishments, as well as more challenges, primarily on security and fraud,” he added.
He also said inadequate access to finance remains a major obstacle for micro, small and medium enterprises, particularly the online sellers. According to DTI, 99.5 percent of companies in the Philippines are considered MSMEs.
“These are just among the top concerns PECA would like to address as it sees that e-commerce will continue to prosper in the coming years,” Basa said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported the country’s digital economy in 2022 amounted to P2.08 trillion, contributing 9.4 percent to the economy. This represents an increase of 11 percent from P1.87 trillion in 2021.
The digital economy is composed of digital transactions covering digital-enabling infrastructure, e-commerce, and digital media/content.
E-commerce, which accounted for 20 percent of the digital economy in 2022, grew by 26.5 percent from the previous year’s record of P328.84 billion.
Of the total digital transactions in 2022, digital-enabling infrastructure made up the largest share amounting to P1.60 trillion or 77.2 percent.
The estimated number of employed persons in the digital economy was 6.05 million in 2022. This count was 8.2 percent higher than the 5.59 million employed in 2021.
