Business groups vow support to e-commerce growth plan

MANILA, Philippines — Business groups Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) and the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) will implement programs to support the roadmap crafted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to push for the growth of e-commerce in the country.

“The PCCI, PFA and the PRA, which I represent, fully support this roadmap and commit our cooperation to pursue our shared vision of promoting e-commerce in the country,” Ma. Alegria Sibal-Limjoco, PCCI chair and vice chair of PFA and PRA, said in a statement.

She said the roadmap is timely as the use of e-commerce has accelerated due to the pandemic.

“This roadmap, which outlines government and private sector strategies to advance e-commerce in the country, once implemented, will help us fully maximize the growth prospects for the digital economy,” she said.

Under the roadmap, the goal is to increase the share of e-commerce from a baseline of P599 billion or 3.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year to P850 billion or 4.3 percent share this year, and to P1.2 trillion or 5.5 percent share by next year.

In terms of e-commerce enterprises, the aim is to see the number rise from 500,000 last year to 750,000 by this year and to climb further to one million next year.

Limjoco said the PCCI, which has started talks to find ways to promote cashless transactions and increase uptake of digital payments among its members, as well as those part of PFA and PRA, intends to continue the initiative by engaging with the office of Trade assistant secretary Jean Pacheco.

She said the PCCI’s e-commerce platform SHOPALL, launched during the Philippine Business Conference last year to allow PCCI members and local chambers to sell their products and services online, supports the e-commerce roadmap.

Earlier this year, PCCI also launched an innovation center in Pasay City envisioned to serve as a central hub to facilitate knowledge exchange among the tech-savvy startups and established businesses.

With the support of Huawei Technologies Philippines Inc., the innovation center will provide mentorship programs in areas including artificial intelligence, robotics, coding, data analytics and the internet of things.

In the area of consumer merchant protection and dispute resolutions, the PCCI also has its own National Mediation Center (NCM) which offers an alternative mechanism for addressing business conflicts through mediation.

At present, NCM, in partnership with the Conflict Resolutions Group, is discussing strategies to provide e-mediation services for both businesses and consumers.

“And, of course, we continue to dialogue with our members and stakeholders to discuss pressing concerns relating to the propagation of e-commerce in the country and identify solutions that can be implemented both by the government and private sector. In fact, the PFA and PRA are calling on the local government units to be more considerate to the businesses affected by the pandemic, particularly on calculating the payments for business permit renewal. Issues such as this should also be considered in the roadmap to help our SMEs (small and medium enterprises) recover and flourish,” Limjoco said.