Philippines eyes stricter e-commerce regulation

The Trade industry is beefing up its workforce to better handle complaints.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) wants to tighten its oversight of the Philippines' e-commerce sector as the number of complaints surged 33% to 36,000 in 2024.

The agency’s E-Commerce Bureau is beefing up enforcement capacity by hiring 40 more workers who would handle cases, Agaton Teodoro Uvero, assistant secretary at the DTI’s Fair Trade Group, told the Retail Asia Summit 2025 in Manila in March.

Many of the online transaction complaints involved refund, defective products, and disputes between sellers and platforms, he said. “We’ve been hearing a lot of complaints from sellers against platforms — whether they’re about internal policy or who pays for the returns,” he added.

The Philippines’ digital economy is on track to reach $28b this year, with e-commerce contributing much of the growth, Uvero said. Online transactions surged 14%to $24b in 2024 from a year earlier.

He said they are planning to set up an online dispute resolution system that would let consumers and businesses settle complaints through a centralised platform, which they might integrate with the government’s eGov app.

They are also helping micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) adopt digital platforms, adding that many small businesses outside the capital region don’t have an e-commerce channel.

He said the Trade department is trying to help MSMEs boost market access through e-commerce platforms and trade fairs. The agency’s e-commerce roadmap prioritises public-private partnerships and aims to fix logistics and payment issues outside major urban areas, he added.

Despite rapid expansion, 78% of e-commerce activity remains concentrated in Metro Manila, Uvero said. “E-commerce is still not that strong in many regions.”

Cash on delivery also remains the dominant payment method.

“According to one domestic company, 90% of their deliveries are still cash on delivery,” he pointed out, adding that consumers prefer to pay in cash due to concerns about digital fraud and limited access to online payment systems.

Meanwhile, electronics remains the top-selling category online, with $4.6b in sales, followed by food delivery at $4.9b, including both fresh and processed items, and beauty, personal care, fashion, and household essentials at $4b.

Shopee leads the domestic e-commerce market with a 54% share, Uvero said.