Review of Related Literature

Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, is the buying and selling of goods and services on the

Internet. Other than buying and selling, many people use Internet as a source of information to compare

prices or look at the latest products on offer before making a purchase online or at a traditional store.

EBusiness is sometimes used as another term for the same process. More often, though, it is used to

define a broader process of how the Internet is changing the way companies do business, of the way they

relate to their customers and suppliers, and of the way they think about such functions as marketing and

logistics. For the purpose of this study e-commerce is taken to mean doing business electronically.

(Lindsay P., 2002)

Online shopping platforms has been a growing craze in the past few years. According to

Eshopworld.com, there are at least 37.7 million e-commerce users in the country in 2018 from the 30.2

million estimated in 2016. The number is expected to rise to 53.8 million by 2022. Statista’s e-commerce

outlook meanwhile estimates that there are currently at least 47.3 million e-commerce users in November

2018, yielding a revenue of $840 million. A report published in May 2018 found that despite its growing

popularity, the Philippines lags in terms of growth of e-commerce sales in the Southeast Asian region. The

intensity of online shopping is expected to be increased in double digits by every year10. In fact,

consumers can also enjoy window shopping on the internet without enduring/feeling the pressure to

purchase, unlike the traditional shopping environment. According to Magee (2003), the growth in the

number of online shoppers is greater than the growth in Internet users, indicating that more Internet

users are becoming comfortable to shop online. Furthermore, not only does the number of adopters grow,

but also the volume of their purchases is proportionally increased (Monsuwe et al, 2004).

E- commerce has become a standard method of providing distributed information to many

different platforms. It is being implemented by a growing number of companies to be more competetive

in corporate world. All companies need to make a step forward towards a new technology. To be able to

compete with the global market ,e- commerce was a good answer (Lanvin and Maggarqul, 2006).

Local

The Visa eCommerce Consumer Monitor 2014, which revealed insights into the behavior and

spending habits of Filipino consumers, showed nine out of 10 Filipino consumers go online to shop at

least once a month. There's also a growing number of consumers who use their mobile phones for

shopping. The study showed 51% of respondents browsed for items through their smartphones, but

only 29% proceeded to make the purchase on their phones. On mobile, they usually buy event or

concert tickets, cosmetics and baby care products.

Meanwhile, Visa's Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2014 showed Filipino online shoppers prefer

local online retailers (80%) for faster deliveries (62%) and less risk of lost orders (55%).

This supports the findings of the eCommerce study where Filipino consumers are concerned with

delivery times (43%) and payment security (45%) when shopping for their items in overseas websites.

According to Tomlinson, "Filipino consumers value products and services that make

their lives more convenient. It comes as no surprise that they see the accessibility that online

shopping provides. The insights that we gain from this study allow us to develop relevant platforms,

products, and services such as Verified by Visa, Visa Entertainment, and other value-added features

that promote faster, secure, and more convenient deals and transactions that help promote retail

and e-commerce growth in the country,"

The Philippines e-commerce market has a tremendous potential in terms of future

growth because of a large number of people becoming adaptive towards online shopping trends with

the help of rising internet and social media penetration rate in the country. The e-commerce market
in the Philippines is projected to reach USD ~ million by 2018 from merely USD ~ million in the year

2013 and thus is expected to grow at a stupendous CAGR of 101.4% during 2013-2018. The

inconsistencies in the internet services that are being provided across the country would be taken

care of in the coming years leading to more people getting internet access. The payment security

issues would be given more consideration so as people have more confidence in the e- commerce

services and feel secure transacting through the internet.