PH e-market to trade goods, services worth $19B by 2025

A strong economy, supported by a young population and a growing affluent middle class, is seen boosting opportunities in the Philippine online market that could already be worth $19 billion by 2025.

A joint study by Google and Temasek showed these digital opportunities in the Philippines could grow 34 percent yearly also on the back of an increasing internet penetration.

The study entitled “e-conomy SEA: Unlocking the $200 billion opportunity in Southeast Asia” estimated opportunities in the online markets of six Asean countries would cumulatively reach roughly $200 billion by 2025 from only $31 billion in 2015.

In the Philippines, opportunities for e-commerce alone is expected to almost double to $9.5 billion by 2025 from $5 billion last year. This covered first hand online purchases such as electronics, clothing/apparel, household goods, food, and grocery, Google Philippines country manager Kenneth Lingan said on Wednesday.

The Philippine online travel market, which covers online spending for hotels, airlines, and ride hailing, is also seen to grow to $6 billion in a decade’s time from only $1 billion in 2015.

These increases in digital opportunities would be fueled partly by the expected surge in the number of people buying their goods or sourcing services online to 42 million by 2025 from only 8 million recorded last year, Lingan said.

“The rapid digitization will unlock the massive opportunities of (the local online market),” he said.

Lingan admitted, however, major roadblocks remained that could potentially derail the growth of the Philippine digital economy, foremost of which would be the high cost of data and slow Internet speeds. He added there was also a need for some $4 billion worth of investments that has to be funneled into the digital and startup ecosystem to ensure the growth of the online market.