Growing number of smartphone users and favorable government initiatives are set to drive the Philippines’ e-commerce market at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7% from an estimated PHP205.5bn (US$3.9bn) in 2019 to PHP368.3bn (US$7.0bn) in 2023, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s E-Commerce Analytics reveals that the e-commerce market in the Philippines is one of the fastest growing in Southeast Asia and between 2015 and 2019 the e-commerce transaction value grew at a CAGR of 26.4%.

Ravi Sharma, Senior Payments Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Rising consumer preference for online shopping, wider availability of online merchants, pricing benefits on online purchases, and the proliferation of alternative payment solutions remained the key driving factors behind e-commerce sales over the last four years.”

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According to GlobalData’s 2019 Banking and Payments Survey, payment cards were the most preferred mode for e-commerce purchases in the Philippines, accounting for 43.1% in 2019. Alternative payment solutions accounted for 23.6% of the total e-commerce transaction value in 2019.

Sharma concludes: “While traditional payment tools continue to dominate the e-commerce purchases, alternative payments solutions will be increasingly preferred, especially by tech-savvy millennials, due to their inclination towards faster and more convenient payment options.”