State investment arm National Development Company (NDC) has partnered with food business incubator Mercato Centrale Group to launch the Philippine government’s first omnichannel e-commerce platform.
Philippine E-commerce Platform (PEP), which was beta-launched at the National MSME Summit 2023 early this week, seeks to promote Filipino businesses and help them expand their presence online.
Focusing on Filipino products, the platform onboards businesses officially registered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other government bodies, which is seen as creating an additional layer of protection for consumers.
“PEP aims to help protect Philippine shoppers with their online shopping experience by only onboarding government-registered Philippine businesses,” according to the announcement.
The platform gives buyers access to a wide range of locally-made products via public sector initiatives such as Go Lokal.
PEP is the brainchild of NDC and is supported by the DTI. It connects through the e-Gov super-app of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), which acts as a hub for all Philippine government services.
Mercato Centrale Group, which provided the technology for the platform, has incubated many food concepts that have become successful. These include Manang’s Chicken, Mamalou’s, Shawarma Bros, Brasas, Bawai’s, Merry Moo, Sunrise Buckets, Tokyo Tempura, and many more.
PEP aligns with the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s 8-point agenda focusing on the digitalization and modernization of all government processes and operations.
It is also in line with the Strategic Development Plan of Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
With a predicted global e-commerce growth rate of +8.9% in 2023, hitting a projected USD$5.9 Trillion in sales worldwide, PEP’s launch comes at a critical time.
Despite the anticipated slowdown in online retail growth as economies reopen and consumers return to brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce’s share of retail sales is projected to increase to 23.3% by 2026.
The Philippine e-commerce sector alone is expected to grow by as much as 22.9% this year, making it the 20th largest e-commerce market worldwide, with estimated sales reaching at least $16 billion, according to reports.
“We laud the NDC and the Mercato Centrale Group for launching the PEP. We are hopeful that the PEP will significantly expand the presence of Filipino companies and products online,” said Joey Concepcion, Founder of Go Negosyo and Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Council (MSMEDC).