TRADE Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual is asking e-commerce players to help government achieve its target of cutting poverty rate to 9 percent.
“I hope that there will be productive dialogues in these areas because we urgently need to develop and improve our policies to create an enabling regulatory environment for e-commerce to grow. With the brightest legal minds of the country gathered here today, let me make a humble request and professional challenge for all of us: Let these policy dialogues be united by one purpose—better lives for all Filipino families, with a target of a 9 percent poverty rate within six years,” Pascual said at the recent eCommerce Congress.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the Philippine Bar Association, held the 1st eCommerce Congress at the Philippine International Convention Center.
DTI gathered government officials, members of the business sector, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to pursue the “overarching goal” of strengthening the e-commerce industry in the country.
Citing Google Temasek Bain’s e-Conomy SEA 2022 report, the DTI said the Philippines’s internet economy continues its upward trend at 20 percent year-over-year to reach $20 billion this year, with e-commerce propelling it to $35 billion by 2025.
According to DTI, the number of businesses on retail sales via the internet has increased, even as there has also been an increase in the number of consumer complaints against online sellers.
In fact, DTI Assistant Secretary for Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Ann Claire C. Cabochan said in a televised interview in October that 2022 estimates show e-commerce enterprises already hitting 2 million in the country, surpassing DTI’s initial estimate of 750,000 for this year.
Cabochan stressed, however, that DTI received 21,406 complaints from consumers from January 1 to September 30,2022. The top three complaints it received involved: defective products, false advertising, and poor customer service.
With this, the DTI said, the time is “ripe” for a new, relevant and responsive eCommerce Law. “In this light, DTI deems the inputs of players in the internet economy as crucial to the efficient crafting of legislative policies that respond to the issues faced by the industry,” the DTI said in a statement.
For his part, Lazada Philippines CEO Carlos Barrera said his company will continue to support the e-commerce roadmap and the regulatory framework being established.
“We are grateful to the DTI for our long-term partnership, founded on common goals. We remain committed to supporting the eCommerce Road Map and regulatory framework being built, and believe that together, we can help drive the growth of the digital economy in the Philippines,” Barrera said.
Trade Secretary Pascual stressed that the country has all the “economic assets” to boost e-commerce in the country.
“We have all the ingredients—the economic assets—to make this happen: a young and digital native population, a growing middle class, available and affordable technologies, and significant surpluses in the financial sector. E-commerce is one of the most potent tools and fastest routes in unlocking these economic assets toward sustained accelerated economic development,” Pascual said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PhilExport), in a statement, bared the prospects of the e-commerce market of Asia-Pacific.
“The Asia-Pacific e-commerce market is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate [CAGR] of 10.24 percent during the forecast period of 2022-2027, fueled by increasing internet access, a growing middle class, and the efficient, effective, and quick distribution of goods, according to figures from Research and Markets,” the country’s umbrella organization of exporters said.