Digital access gaps reshape Philippine retail competition

This results in a fragmented digital landscape where consumers interact with brands in very different ways.

Retailers targeting the Philippines’ highly connected population risk overlooking a crucial reality: millions of consumers remain only partially online, with wide disparities in digital access and spending power shaping how they shop.

Speaking at the Retail Asia Summit – Philippines 2026, Daphne Enid Tagnong, head of tracking and platforms for customer intelligence at Globe Telecom, said the country’s digital story is far more complex than headline connectivity figures suggest.

Despite high internet usage, only about 50% of Filipino households have broadband at home, she said, meaning many consumers rely on intermittent or mobile-only access.

The result is a fragmented digital landscape where consumers interact with brands in very different ways.

“Some consumers have never known a world without the internet,” Tagnong said, referring largely to young Gen Z shoppers.

Others, such as many Millennials, use the internet mainly for communication and entertainment.

“And believe it or not, there are still some people who only use regular texts and calls because they’re afraid of being scammed online,” Tagnong said.

She added that the country’s digital divide largely reflects deeper economic disparities.

Only around 7% of Filipino households belong to the upper-income segment, she said, typically families with multiple income streams from businesses, investments, or professional careers.

At the other end of the spectrum, however, many families are struggling to keep up with rising living costs as wages and job opportunities lag behind inflation.

Between these extremes sits the middle class, which Tagnong described as financially fragile despite relatively stable incomes.

“Many of them know they are just one sickness or hospitalisation away from falling into debt,” she said.

Research cited by Tagnong shows upper-income households enjoy an average 12% budget surplus, whilst lower-income households operate with a 5% to 7% budget deficit.

“That is the reality for around 93% of Filipino families,” she said.

The situation is reshaping how consumers define affordability.

According to Globe’s consumer research, Filipinos evaluate products across several levels of value—from the cheapest option and items within budget to products that offer fair value for money. But the most preferred are those that deliver “more than what they paid for.”

Digital platforms are playing a growing role in how consumers search for value.

Tagnong said product discovery increasingly happens online, from social media promotions to consumers actively comparing deals. But the same environment also overwhelms shoppers with choices and promotions.

“Brand loyalty becomes much harder to sustain,” she said.

This means retailers are not only competing for attention online but also struggling to remain relevant in an increasingly crowded digital marketplace.

“Consumers today are incredibly value-conscious,” Tagnong said. “They are hyper-online not because they want endless choices, but because every decision they make needs to stretch their budget further.”