The Philippine market has many characteristics that are conducive to the development of the e-commerce market: a large population, rapid economic growth, massive overseas remittances, strong consumer willingness to consume, high acceptance of external things, high social media usage rate, and a well-developed Internet celebrity economy… Overall, the Philippines is a market with great development potential.
The Philippines has a population of more than 100 million, of which 44% are urban residents, and the capital Manila has a population of about 13 million. The penetration rate of social networks in the Philippines is also gradually increasing. In 2019, there were 60 million Internet users in the Philippines, accounting for nearly 60% of the total population, and the penetration rate of smartphones reached 61%. Because the penetration rate of smartphones is much higher than the penetration rate of computers (39%), Filipinos prefer to surf the Internet through mobile phones. At the same time, online shopping has gradually become popular. In 2016, the number of online shoppers in the Philippines reached 30 million, and the total e-commerce sales exceeded US$1 billion.
In recent years, with the steady growth of the economy, the per capita disposable income of the Philippines has continued to increase, and people have begun to focus on improving the quality of life through consumption. In terms of consumer categories, food, groceries, education, and transportation are the key items of consumption. At the same time, thousands of millennials pay more attention to the quality of life, pay more attention to health, and are more inclined to buy brands with social responsibility, which is gradually affecting the changes in the marketing strategies of local companies in the Philippines.
Against this background, the Philippines has gradually developed into a market with great potential. It is precisely because of the rapid development of the entire e-commerce environment in Southeast Asia that many emerging logistics companies have begun to pour in, which has greatly improved the logistics problems in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.