Sales days reveal the growing appetite for ecommerce in the Philippines

This year, Singles’ Day garnered the most interest from Filipino consumers. Although the country has the lowest online economic activity among Southeast Asian countries, a report from Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company claims that it has the most potential for growth in the next five years, as it’s already been growing between 20%  to 30%. The country is catching up to the regional shift from physical to online purchases.

Filipino shoppers had bigger baskets in 2019

A study by iPrice shows that the average Filipino basket size grew by 10% this year compared to 2018. The average daily amount people spent was 1,217 pesos (roughly US$24), which is 628 pesos (US$12) more than the average household expenditure per day, according to the latest statistics from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Interestingly enough, Filipinos spent the most on sports and outdoor items as well as electronics.

The top players

IPrice Group reported that Lazada and Shopee have consistently been the top two players in the industry for the past year. Hence, it comes as no surprise that the two platforms obtained the highest search interest from consumers during special holiday sales on Google Trends (as of Nov. 22, 2019).

Although the competition between the two has always been stiff, Lazada still obtained 40% more search interest than Shopee across the year and during the Singles’ Day season.

Interest on Singles’ Day is on a steady climb

Google Trends data proves that there has been a growing interest on Singles’ Day. In the last three years (2016 to 2019), interest in the sale day has grown more than 33x. This could be because the popularity of online sales is parallel to the growth of ecommerce in the country.

Moreover, a large volume of searches related to Singles’ Day started exponentially increasing in 2018 as people became more aware of online shopping and more shopping sites started emerging.

In the same year, 30% of social media buzz related to online shopping during special holiday sales (including Singles’ Day) came from the Philippines, according to research firm Meltwater. The Philippines placed second among countries in the region that created the most online buzz, right behind Indonesia.

This year, Google Trends recorded the highest search interest on Singles’ Day to date in the country, which was 37% more than last year’s. The Philippines has only started catching up on this trend, but it seems like interest in these special holiday sales is likely to increase.

12.12 expected to be even bigger than 11.11

The 12.12 Sale garnered more interest than Singles’ Day in 2018 by 20%, which gives us an indication that it will most likely garner a higher search interest from Filipino consumers this year as well. Singles’ Day 2019 had even more interest than 12.12 in 2018, which goes to show the potential for interest in 12.12 this year.

Mobile shopping apps prove to be effective

Ecommerce and special holiday sales showed great results this year, and this progress is not likely to slow down soon, especially when the country is adapting to the use of technology.

Filipinos keep up with the rise of the online economy by adapting to mobile use and purchasing smartphones. According to data platform Statista, only 32% of mobile users used smartphones in the Philippines in 2014. Today, that number stands at 48% and is projected to grow to 50% next year.

The Digital 2019 report by We Are Social and Hootsuite also recorded that 65% of Filipino adults use smartphones to access the internet. The same report highlighted that there are about 5 billion unique mobile users and 4 billion internet users in the country who spend an average of four hours a day connected to mobile internet. This places the country among the top 10 in terms of mobile internet usage in the world.

The rise of ecommerce to drive more interest for holiday sales