Enhancing the ‘electronic’ in e-commerce

THERE are a lot of things one can do with half a million pesos, among them giving (like Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite says he did earlier this month) the amount to a near-stranger who texted that he was running out of funds in a foreign land. One can also invest it in an online business, which may be the better move, and not only because then there would be little chance of one ending up getting grilled in the Senate or becoming the subject of text jokes.

According to e-commerce insiders and observers, 2008 may yet become the turnaround year for the Philippine online economy, which had been in the doldrums for far too long. As the closing piece in i Report‘s Mad Over Money series explains, this is because of a predicted dramatic rise in Internet use, as well as the recent entry of PayPal, the global leader in online payment solutions, into the country.

For sure, the savvy and creative Pinoys did come up with alternative modes of payment while awaiting the arrival of PayPal to simplify e-transactions. But few small and medium enterprises (SMEs) dared to dip their toes in the cyberbusiness waters in the meantime, which meant local e-commerce became dominated by business giants.

That’s still the case today, but experts insist this is the ideal time for SMEs to try it out online. Readers would do well to listen to their arguments, as well as to consider the prospects and possible pitfalls of Pinoy e-commerce.

Read on at pcij.org.