Gov’t Mulls Creation of e-Commerce Platform for MSMEs

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is aiming for the creation of an online shopping platform to aid micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) in the selling of their products as the country moves further toward digitalization.

According to DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy, the creation of the e-commerce platform would be a complete ecosystem that would have features such as raw material sourcing, digital marketing for MSMEs, and digital payment options.

Uy told state news agency Philippine News Agency that the platform would be similar to popular online shopping platforms Alibaba, Lazada, and Shopee.

Moreover, Uy added that the project aims to provide a solution to the challenge facing various MSMEs – the shift to e-commerce.

The project will be operated by the DICT with cooperation from the Department of Trade and Industry.

The Philippines has seen a surge in the adaptation to online shopping platforms and e-commerce in general as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country starting in 2020.

As lockdowns were implemented nationwide, consumers turned to e-commerce, marking the start of the acceleration of the development of digitalization in the country.

Moreover, digital wallet service application GCash reported that in 2020, the daily gross transaction value within the app peaked at PHP7.5 billion.

Users of the app also grew to 33 million in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a 65 percent year-on-year growth compared to 2019.

During that time, GCash reported that the average daily transactions in the application were 6 million transactions per day. (GFB)