Top Philippine ecommerce players on the country’s explosive potential

This is the first of a three-part series tackling discussions during the Tech in Asia Manila Chapter meetup on the state of ecommerce in the Philippines.

Exciting. Explosive. Exponential. These were some of the words panelists used during the third Tech in Asia Manila Chapter event to describe the state of ecommerce in the Philippines. If these words are any indication of what’s ahead, the future of ecommerce in the country is shaping up to exceed all expectations.

The future does not make itself, however. By sharing the stories and insights they’ve gained, the panelists gave justice to this promising picture, pointing out some factors that have brought about the growth of ecommerce in the Philippines.

The panelists

On the panel were the following:

• Mark Joseph Panganiban, head of digital business at Air21
• Jean-Francois Darrell, chief analytics and risk officer of Mynt
• Inanc Balci, CEO and co-founder of Lazada Philippines
• Ash Mandhyan, head of client solutions for Facebook Philippines
• Paolo Azzola, COO and managing director of PayMaya Philippines
• Bjorn Pardo, founder and CEO of Xend Business Solutions, Inc.
• Kristina Ay-ay, co-founder and country head of ShopBack Philippines
• Abbie Victorino, founder and CEO of StyleGenie
• Martin Yu, head of business intelligence for Shopee Philippines

Keeping up with the changes

The ecommerce landscape in the Philippines wasn’t always promising. “You see a lot of people in Singapore, Hong Kong, and across the world noticing the Philippines,” says Paolo Azzola. “This wasn’t true three, four years ago.”

With more people gaining access to internet through smartphones, the Philippines has become an ideal location for ecommerce-related services and online marketplaces, like Shopee and ShopBack, to grow as well.

A significant and influential portion of this growing population are the millennials, whom Martin Yu refers to as the “quick tech rockers”—those willing to try out new technologies and come online when internet and mobile internet penetration are still growing.

According to Kristina Ay-ay, increasing disposable incomes over the past five years have contributed to more online shoppers. She also mentions that more of the online merchants she has been handling on the platform have become interested in entering the Philippine market.

With more online shoppers and merchants, businesses essential to the online shopping experience, like logistics and financial service providers, have had to adapt. “The number of packages are continuously growing, and for a 38-year-old company, we have to be creative [with] delivering things,” says Joseph Panganiban.

The role of culture

Beyond the changes in the way consumers and businesses are approaching technology, Filipino culture has also played, and will continue to play, a pivotal role in driving the growth of ecommerce in the Philippines.

According to Inanc Balci, the Philippines is an emerging ecommerce capital due to its roots as an SMS nation and its current position as Facebook capital of the world, with one of the highest Facebook penetration rates.

In the context of ecommerce, high penetration extends beyond Facebook. “The way we (Filipinos) sell, it’s very sari-sari; it’s very community,” says Ash Mandhyan. This social aspect of selling makes the Filipino experience of ecommerce unique, and Bjorn Pardo attributes this to resourcefulness—something he thinks Filipinos are very good at.

Room for growth