Competition to make Pinoys confident on e-commerce — eBay official

Online shopping in the Philippines is still in its budding stage and competition among e-commerce platforms will drive more people to shop online, an official of eBay said Thursday, voicing optimism on the emerging industry.

“In the Philippines, e-commerce is still in a nascent stage. Immediate opportunity is getting more people online and getting them confident in shopping online,” eBay Asia Pacific director for communications Daniel Feiler told GMA News Online after the launch of the new eBay Philippines.

When asked if competition eats up eBay Philippines business, Feiler answered, "No, as we're experiencing a really healthy growth here from our perspective." He added that competition gives consumers "more options" on what and where to buy.

“At this stage of market development, it’s really about growing. We see e-commerce growing in a healthy competition by getting more Filipinos accustomed to online shopping,” Feiler said.

Feiler said the Southeast Asian region is “pretty nascent” in terms of online shopping and the Philippines is “up there,” noting that comparing it with other countries is quite hard as “the region is very diverse.”

Citing MasterCard’s Online Shopping Behavior Study 2012 released in March, Filipinos currently rank lowest in the propensity to conduct online transactions among 14 Asia Pacific countries.

Its index, however, showed an upward trajectory —71 in 2012 compared to 64 in 2011 and 57 in 2010. Online shopping satisfaction rating, on the other hand, was at 86.1 percent, up from 84.4 percent in 2011 and 82.6 percent in 2010.

The study also showed the Filipino online shopper is cautious in making online purchases, with 89 percent of the respondents citing security as a top concern, 88.5 percent by speed of transaction and convenience of payment methods in their transactions.

On payment methods, eBay Philippines’ options include Paypal, credit card, debit card and online bank transfer.

“People are looking for security… payment option that keeps your information secured. Paypal has buyer protection. That’s why we encourage people to use Paypal. But we’re making improvements here… as more people become more online,” Feiler said.

Under the Paypal buyer protection, consumers will be reimbursed by as much as P11,200 when an item was not received and when an item was received but significantly not as described.

Personal payment is also an option, Feiler said.

“People already do that here [in the Philippines]. We focus on what customers want. If the buyers and sellers want that, we’ll make it easier for them,” hesaid.  — KBK, GMA News