eCommerce mentoring for SMEs launched

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry- Cebu Provincial Office (DTI-CPO) and the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) are spearheading an eCommerce mentorship program to encourage more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take advantage of the unlimited market reach of online marketing.

The e-commerce mentorship program currently has 40 mentees enrolled, said agency director Ma. Elena Arbon.

 Now on its second season for eCommerce mentoring, enrollees include SMEs from Negros, Bohol and Siquijor, majority of whom are companies based in Cebu.

Official mentorship program will start on the third week of April and will end on June 13.

DTI's e-commerce and digital marketing mentoring program aims to usher in a new breed of businesses that will thrive in the innovation and digital economy and create an enabling environment that supports the growth of the number of SMEs doing digital marketing.

The first batch for the eCommerce mentorship program has 14 participants from furniture, home accessories and food manufacturing sectors. Most of them have their own working websites and social media accounts already.

The e-commerce mentoring program will essentially adopt a hands-on methodology wherein selected MSMEs will be guided through the various steps of setting up an e-commerce presence.

Recently, management consulting firm Bain & Company, in conjunction with Google, warned companies in South East Asia, including the Philippines to catch up with its growth in eCommerce platform.

Online retail represents a US$6B market in Southeast Asia, but with online sales is only below four percent of total retail.

"The region still lags well behind developed markets and even other developing markets," revealed the study.

According to the joint Bain-Google report, which includes a survey of more than 6,000 Southeast Asian consumers across the Philippines and five other markets (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam,) digital influences just 20 percent of consumer purchases, particularly mobile phones, clothing and laptops.

Overall, Bain anticipates online retail sales across Southeast Asia could hit US$70 billion by 2020.  While this does not yet match the pace of China ( now a more than $500 billion market)– multinational retailers are finding it harder to ignore the region’s emerging influence.

While 250 million consumers are now connected via smartphone and 100 million engage in online transactions, eCommerce related activities are moving a slow pace. (FREEMAN)