ONCE again, the Philippines has risen above the rest of the world. A survey done by the Pew Research Center showed that 98 percent of all Filipinos with cell phones have used short message service or text messaging in the last 12 months. They probably could have asked how many have sent or received a text message in the last 12 hours, and the percentage would have been the same.
By comparison, only 39 percent of cell-phone users in Thailand have used text messaging. There seems to be some correlation between the use of texting and the fact that a home language uses the Roman or Latin alphabet, instead of unique language characters. The highest non-Roman alphabet text users are Russian, far behind at 83 percent. Even China comes in with only 78 percent of subscribers as “texters.”
While smartphones are now connecting the globe through Facebook and other platforms, with nearly 70 percent access the social media through their phones, the next great explosion will be in e-commerce.
In 1998 Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote, “By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.” That only goes to prove that even the top experts are often wrong with their forecasts.
Currently, China and India are the fastest-growing markets for buying goods and services electronically on the Internet. But these nations are only the top of the trend. Customers around the world are buying everything, from home-delivered pizzas to clothes and even astrological forecasts, using e-commerce.
E-commerce-industry consultants are saying that the next big market will be in the Southeast Asian region, including the Philippines. In 2013 it is estimated that the region spent about $7 billion online. By 2018 that number is expected to rise to a huge $35 billion. Consulting firms A.T. Kearney and CIMB Asian Research Institute said last month in a joint report that three factors are driving this growth: increase purchasing power, Internet penetration and improving online offerings by retailers.
While there is some negative sentiment about Filipinos using e-commerce, this sentiment may be as inaccurate as Krugman’s was. The Philippines is showing the fifth-fastest e-commerce growth in the world.
A few years ago, the problem was that most Filipinos did not have credit cards, and that is still true. But with the advent of other payment portals, such as PayPal and Dragonpay Corp., retailers can find an active market if they wish to. That is the real problem now with growth.
It is not that the consumer is unable or necessarily unwilling to use e-commerce; it is that the local sellers have not moved quickly and efficiently into selling their products and services online. Consumer hesitation comes with the first purchase or two. After that, they can become dedicated online shoppers.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano