As electronic commerce adoption increases, so does the number of complaints.
Assistant Secretary Ann Cabochan of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) told the Laging Handa public briefing yesterday data would show the number of e-commerce participants in the country has ballooned to 2 million to date, surpassing the yearend 2022 projection of 750,000 under the DTI industry roadmap.
Cabochan said while bulk of consumer complaints filed with the DTI are on transactions involving physical stores, the DTI has noted an increase in the number of complaints on online purchases.
Without describing the trend, Cabochan said of the 21,000 complaints received by the DTI from January to September this year, 8,960 are for online transactions.
Cabochan added bulk of complaints involve communication and internet concerns. These complaints are endorsed to the National Telecommunication Commission.
DTI handles those involving liability of the products, imperfect or defective products, unconscionable sales acts and warranty issues involving sellers as well as poor delivery service like delays or mishandling involving couriers.
Meanwhile, findings of the research commissioned by FedEx Express showed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines join their counterparts in India, Malaysia and Vietnam as among the most optimistic countries in the region about the future growth of their e-commerce businesses in the next three years.
But results of the What’s Next in E-Commerce survey also showed the Philippines is also one of three countries in the region where delay in deliveries is a top concern.
The optimistic sentiment among SMEs in the Philippines can be attributed to the fact that e-commerce currently represents less than 6 percent of total retail sales.
The survey covering 11 markets in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region and done in July 2022 showed deliveries taking too long is the number one pain consumer point (53 percent) followed by handling returns (42 percent). Consumers typically expect delivery within three days to one week, but clearly there is a desire for delivery to be at least more reliable if not faster.
This trend is most pronounced in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore signifying that SMEs in these three markets need to up their game considerably to begin to live up to Consumer expectations. – Irma Isip
