Online shopping in the Philippines sets new record

Electronic commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada reported record online sales during the holiday season as more consumers adopted digital platforms.Shopee says its latest 12.12 sale sold a record-breaking 12 million items in the first 24 minutes, with as many as a million items bought in a minute at its peak.About a million smartphone accessories were sold during the sale, the most popular items being phone cases, phone covers and power banks, it said.Lazada reported a 250-percent increase in daily sales for the year, as e-commerce flourished with more people homebound because of the COVID-19 pandemic.The number of sellers and the use of cashless payments also increased this year, while sales of digital goods like mobile load and e-vouchers increased eight-fold.”Life under lockdown pushed the rapid adoption of online and digital services. It became even more evident how digital transformation and the use of digital technology have become important for Filipinos in coping with the present crisis,” said Alfredo Panlilio, Smart Communications president and chief executive and PLDT chief revenue officer.”Internet connectivity fuels this rapid adoption, therefore becoming the foundation of the digital economy,” he said.

Gil Genio, Globe’s chief technology and information officer said online shopping and online payments in the holiday season showed Filipinos were increasingly adopting new digital platforms.“Our continuous network improvements will further provide our customers with an enriching experience as they discover new ways of using digital technologies,” Genio said.Globe scored high on satisfaction scores when it comes to stability and consistency of its network in the independent survey by Kantar in November, the Philippines’ leading marketing research agency.The survey involved 1,200 male and female respondents aged 13 to 65 years old, across urban regions nationwide from varying economic conditions.“This proves that our network is able to meet the speed and data demands of Filipinos even during the peak season of online shopping and other activities that require stable internet connectivity,” Genio said.