Philippines – Around 80% of Filipino respondents consider free shipping to be the most important factor when shopping with online stores or retailers, a study by Shopify showed.
The study found that the free shipping feature is a must for the majority of Filipinos when making purchases online. Other key considerations for Filipino shoppers include using mobile apps for online shopping (46%) and free returns (45%).
Meanwhile, for in-store purchases, 66% of Filipinos said attentive staff is their top priority. Additionally, 57% emphasised the importance of sufficient stock, while 52% highlighted the need for attentive customer service.
Bjarati Balakrishnan, head and director for Southeast Asia and India at Shopify, said, “Experiences in the store are really changing rapidly because, you and I, when we walk into a store today, we pop out a marketplace and read the catalogue in detail before we decide what to buy. We’re not really relying on the salesman to tell us all the details, like we used to 10 years back.”
She continued, “Invest in unified commerce, but please get your basics right before you enter the world of (augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence). Let’s get catalogue and content assortment, inventory, pricing, and promotions right.”
“I definitely think mainly the present is omnichannel. How it evolves into being more unified, more driven by technology, more driven by a unified experience for customers, so they feel, no matter where they want to buy you, they can find you, is really what the future is,” Balakrishnan further noted.
