Gross merchandise value of e-commerce Philippines 2019-2030

The Philippines' e-commerce market size was valued at 17 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. It was forecasted to reach around 60 billion U.S. dollars in 2030. 

Key trends in the e-commerce market

The most common forms of e-commerce in the Philippines were B2C and C2C models. In a B2C model, online consumers are offered competitive prices because of the unlimited marketplace. From a business owner perspective, it lowers their cost of doing business; hence, it enables them to reduce the transaction costs for customers. Through this model, a personalized relationship between the company and the customer is facilitated. On the other hand, a C2C model allows a customer to buy from another customer using a third-party business.

As of the second quarter of 2022, the leading B2C e-commerce website in the Philippines was Shopee, with approximately 72 million web visits monthly. Meanwhile, the most popular C2C e-commerce website was eBay, with monthly web visitors of around 863.6 thousand.

Security challenges in e-commerce hamper e-commerce growth

Although e-commerce has an undeniable potential to grow in the Philippine market, some setbacks have hindered its expansion. One of the biggest challenges facing online shoppers and merchants pertains to security risks posed by scammers and hackers. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipino shoppers were exposed to higher risk of cyber threats that affected their shopping behavior. A survey during the fourth quarter of 2022 revealed that phishing and money or gift card fraud were the leading types of fraud experienced by consumers in the Philippines.