Understanding Philippine E-commerce through Customer Data

The e-commerce industry in the Philippines has seen incredible growth recently. According to the International Trade Administration, the market is projected to reach $24 billion by 2025, experiencing a 17% growth.

With many online shoppers in the country willingly giving their data, numerous e-commerce businesses have found different ways to gather and use it to their advantage. Their methods provide a clear image of the Philippine e-commerce landscape, which you must understand to succeed in this highly competitive market.

This article guides you through how the larger e-commerce market in the Philippines uses customer data to boost sales and how you can implement it into your strategies.

Understanding Philippine E-Commerce

It’s easier for your brand to succeed when you understand the state of the market. Spotting trends and patterns allows you to adapt your business strategies to align with shifting customer behavior and leverage statistics. For example, knowing that 72% of Filipino shoppers are female allows you to frame your marketing efforts to appeal better to this specific audience.

Recently, the Philippine e-commerce platform ecosystem has been growing steadily, with a 55% uptick from 2019, largely influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, digital platforms such as marketplaces, social media, logistics, and delivery platforms have grown in popularity and enabled the industry to thrive.

The Department of Trade and Industry also mentions that the ecosystem’s growth has made it easier for customers to access information and buy products without the hassle of lengthy negotiations or payment processes.

However, the Philippine e-commerce industry is thriving not only due to the rising popularity of digital services but because of how e-commerce businesses continuously use the gathered data to deliver value to their audience.

5 Ways How Customer Data Influence Philippine E-commerce

Without customer data, Philippine e-commerce brands would only guess what strategies can help them reach their objectives. Many have taken advantage of the ease of gathering customer data to influence their e-commerce business in various ways.

1. Creating customer segments 

Customer segmentation provides valuable insights into customers’ demographics and psychographics, making it fundamental for successful e-commerce businesses. This method allows them to relate to customers more effectively.

For instance, customer data can help e-commerce businesses understand the purchasing patterns of coffee enthusiasts who are highly selective about their roasts and those looking to save on coffee expenses. This segmentation allows businesses to target and cater to these specific customer groups more successfully.

2. Predicting future behavior and trends 

Past customer data can help you with predictive analytics, allowing you to accurately forecast customer behaviors and trends. These insights enable you to adapt your business to meet customer expectations consistently.

Suppose you’re a fashion brand selling bags for women. Through customer data analysis, you may discover more people registering for an account on your e-commerce site during summertime. You can use this insight to develop a targeted summer promotion that aligns with customer preferences and increases the likelihood of success based on data-driven trends.

3. Providing better customer service 

Customer service agents can use customer data to add a personal touch when resolving a customer’s concerns. Agents may be more proactive in providing solutions since customer data can show a customer’s past purchase history and previous concerns.

These can increase your customer lifetime value since 83% of customers become more loyal to brands that resolve their complaints effectively.

4. Improving the online shopping experience

Customer data can help you spot whether a customer is returning or visiting your site for the first time. With this information, you can create different versions of your homepage to appeal to different customer bases.

For first-time visitors, you can highlight your newest deals and promotions, while for repeat customers, you can streamline the repurchasing process to enhance convenience and encourage loyalty.

5. Boosting marketing automation efforts

Automating your marketing efforts increases productivity and frees time for other pressing tasks. You can use customer data to configure your marketing platform to target specific audiences, ensuring your messages are tailored and delivered to customers at the right time.

Customer data is a valuable asset you can use as part of various strategies. You must understand how to maximize it to succeed in the competitive market.

How to Use Customer Data to Boost Your Philippine E-commerce Business

Each company will use customer data differently because of its unique business goals. Below are a few methods of using customer data to determine the best approach for your business.

1. Enhance personalized marketing 

Customer data can come from information on their preferences and buying behavior. You can use these insights to create personalized experiences and strengthen customer relationships.

2. Understand the customer experience 

Customer insight platforms allow you to manage and analyze customer data much easier to guide your e-commerce strategies. For example, you can use customer data to simplify the checkout process so online shoppers don’t have to repeatedly fill out the same forms.

3. Implement target advertising

Not all your customers are alike; you need to tailor each of your promotions to be relevant to each. Use your gathered customer data to appeal to your customer segments and leverage target advertising.

4. Improve your mobile shopping experience

Since 92% of Filipino online shoppers prefer shopping through smartphones, you can use customer data to optimize your brand’s mobile shopping experience. For instance, you can utilize their purchasing behavior data to know the optimal time to send push notifications about promotions.

5. Find lookalike audiences

Lookalike audiences are people who haven’t bought from you but resemble your target audience in certain aspects, such as demographic information or psychographic traits. Customer data allows you to find similar audiences likely to buy from you.

Understand Your Filipino Customers Better

Customer data is valuable for online businesses, especially with how popular the e-commerce industry is in the Philippines. It can help you segment your customers, predict trends, and adapt your customer service to align with a customer’s needs and expectations.

That said, customer data alone won’t drive your business forward. You must understand how to implement it into your strategies to separate yourself from competitors. Inquiro offers customer analytics services to help you create a clearer picture of customers and better understand them.

Contact us today to learn how you can use customer data to boost your Philippine e-commerce business.

Interested to uncover new insights about the market? Get in touch with us today and let’s see what we can discover together. Email us at info@inquiro.ph.