Singapore-based ShopBack recently said online shopping will continue to grow in the Philippines as majority of Filipinos spend an average of 10 hours on the Internet daily.
Prashant Kala, country manager of ShopBack Philippines, told reporters the company’s cashback rewards program that returns to buyers up to 30 percent of money spent on online shopping is going to be a major driver to entice more Filipinos to shop online. To attract more online traffic, he said the site has been totally revamped to attract more online shoppers. He said the updates on the website started on September 4.
To avail of the ShopBack offer, users should enter partner e-commerce sites, such as Lazada and Zalora through the ShopBack app in order to enjoy these rewards. After they finished their shopping online, customers can claim the money they earn back through transfer to their online bank account, mobile wallet GCash or PayPal.
At present, ShopBack is operating in seven countries in Asia Pacific and counts over 12 million users. It is currently partnered with more than 2,000 brands from all over the world. Having a population of 110 million people, Kala cited the ShopBack Philippine market as one of its newest and most exciting markets.
“The reputation of Filipinos for being online-savvy is once again affirmed by the phenomenal growth we’ve experience in just a couple of years since we launched ShopBack in the country,” says Karoline Santiago, partnerships head of ShopBack in the Philippines.
As of August, Santiago noted that transactions on the app have increased to 29,000 orders every day compared to just 800 in the same period last year. “This is still relatively small compared to our operations in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand, but we are optimistic that the Philippines will definitely catch up with these more established markets very soon,” added Santiago.
By using data and analytics, Santiago said ShopBack managed to determine the online shopping habits of Filipinos these days. Based on the trend, the sachet economy became the main mode manifested by the high demand on prepaid load and gaming pins, followed by electronics and products for moms and babies. Travel packages, tours and hotel accommodations come next. The rest are a myriad of everyday essentials, from foodstuff such as brownies, to toiletries such as mosquito repellant.
Since ShopBack’s entry in the Philippines in June 2015, the app has enjoyed 1.9 million downloads and has paid a total of P119.8 million in cashback rewards. Interestingly, the biggest cashback paid in a single transaction was P422,055.34. The highest total cashback paid to an individual app user, meanwhile, racks up to P1,006,437.54.
“Incentive programs, such as cashback reward is a vital evolution in e-commerce that will help expand the sector even further, especially in markets such as the Philippines where there is high mobile penetration and Internet usage rates,” explained Santiago. Given their rosy prospects for the Philippine market, ShopBack is expanding its local operations and partnering with more e-commerce outlets and brands.
“We will push further digital retailing in the Philippines this year,” Kala said.