eCommerce in the Philippines
Buyers are reluctant to make online transactions when purchases are not guaranteed - when they know little about the seller, the quality of the product and the security of the payment method.
I once bought some items from ebay.ph but that was the end of my buying experience from the site. It wasn't that I was scammed by my seller or that I received damaged items. I had a positive experience, actually. It's just that I feel more at ease when I can touch the products and examine them closely before I buy them. If I want to buy something that costs more than P500, I'd much rather go to the physical store and buy the item myself to be sure of its quality than to pay using any forms of Pera Padala and then hope that the item will not be damaged through poor shipping and handling.
The only online transaction I am comfortable with right now is online booking. This kind of transaction is fast and the "product" is "delivered" to my email address within minutes. Airline companies provide different payment methods - via credit cards, banks or ATMs, even through select non-bank Payment Centers. For me, this is a more convenient way to pay for plane tickets than going directly to their office during business hours. Besides, fares are cheaper online. ^_^
While I can't represent all buyers, I could say that my attitude towards eCommerce is shared by still many Filipinos out there. If our local companies start building trust in their brands, and putting up online stores with secure payment methods, I think that Filipino consumers will consider making some of their purchases online.
Is the Philippines ready for ecommerce? As Donald Lim puts it in an article in mansmith.net, "As a country, as mature internet users? Objectively, I think not yet. But we are getting there, and the tipping point will soon be reached... It's almost there." I agree with him that the country and our people are not yet ready to bring commerce online but the companies should be ready when the consumers are.
Is the Philippines Ready for E-commerce? by Donald Lim
http://www.mansmith.net/is-the-philippines-ready-for-e-commerce-by-donald-lim/
Pardo's talk can be viewed here:
http://vimeo.com/22287217
Philippine E-Commerce: Preferred Marketplaces and Payment Method from Janette Toral 1 year ago
ANC Future Perfect: Digital Filipino E-Commerce Summit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4D5YcP8hDE
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One of the biggest factors why ecommerce in the Philippines has not yet stepped up is trust, which was discussed in the 2010 eCommerce Summit.
Bjorn Pardo of Xend talked about buyer and seller behaviors in the three stages of eCommerce: marketplace - where the buyers and sellers interact, payment, and delivery.
Marketplace
Their research showed that majority of the buyers and sellers are females and that the items that are being sold are mostly targeted towards the females. In 2010, Multiply was the most popular site but Facebook was slowly climbing up in terms of popularity. One reason for this, he said, was trust. Buyers felt more assured to make purchases from someone they know or from someone whom their friends might know through their connections in the social networking site.
Another thing is that sellers do not want to maintain multiple websites to advertise their items.
Payment
Based on their research, the popular payment methods in descending order are: bank deposit, cash on delivery or meetups, Gcash offline through payment centers, Gcash online through mobile phones, PayPal, and money transfer. Despite 56% of their buyer-respondents have credit cards, these people still prefer to pay using offline methods.
According to Pardo, this is because credit card holders do not feeling safe to use their cards online and they also do not want to be charged extra fees for using their accounts. Aside from credit card fees, if buyers choose Gcash, some sellers charge them extra for this payment method.
Delivery
Meetups are still popular but some companies now provide buyers and sellers a way to send and receive items in a more secure way.
2012 DigitalFilipino Ecommerce Summit
Janette Toral of DigitalFilipino sat down in an interview with ANC Future Perfect where she gave an overview about what topics will be covered in the summit - how the market is innovating towards cashless transactions and how social networking sites and social media are now being used as platforms to sell online. Buyers are also learning how to utilize tools tools to identify trusted sellers to transact with online.