The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the country’s largest Filipino-Chinese business group, and Lazada, southeast Asia’s leading e-commerce platform, have signed an agreement for mass onboarding of businesses into the Lazada platform to further accelerate e-commerce in the country.
The memorandum of agreement was signed by FFCCCII President Henry Lim Bon Liong and Lazada Philippines CEO Carlos Barrera on Thursday, Nov. 24, during the Kamuning Pandesal Forum.
Under the MOA, both partners agreed to deepen partnership and unlock more areas of cooperation. Foremost, the agreement will pave the way for the mass onboarding of FFCCCII members as Lazada sellers and do their business online.
Lazada will provide FFCCCII members free training, logistics support such as free shipping, ensure adoption of online payment service options and marketing of their products.
Both parties will also conduct events together like seller caravans and educational forum and webinars to improve ecommerce awareness among members and consumers.
“This MOU is timely because the Philippines is the fastest growing digital economy in southeast Asia. This is very exciting for Philippine economy,” said Lim.
For his part, Barrera said that while they have thousands of sellers in its platform not all of FFCCCII members are in. He said the objective of Lazada is to work with every business and with the support of FFCCCII with nationwide members, chapters, and new member enterprises, the platform hopes to onboard these companies.
“We want to grow them and we want to get every single member,” said Barrera noting that Lazada will extend the FFCCCII members more support and packages to fast track their business and provide account managers to help them navigate their store.
He noted that online selling can sometimes be difficult and dauting, especially when one’s brick and mortar business is already doing well, but he also stressed that bringing the business to an online marketplace is the fastest and decent ways to grow.
Barrera expressed appreciation for the partnership as he committed to grow together and bring local businesses to the next level.
The FFCCCII has a network of 170 Filipino Chinese chambers of commerce and trade associations in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao actively engaged in manufacturing, retail, agriculture, food and beverage, hardware, garments, hotels, real estate, and other industries. The MOU is in line with with the federation’s objective to further promote business growth through e-commerce platforms.
E-commerce is a thriving sector that has very great potential, as shopping online provides a wide variety of products and convenience to consumers. Lim cited the latest data from Google that ecommerce global online retail sales will reach $6.17 trillion by 2023.
“With the internet and technology becoming more and more accessible to all, such growth is a worldwide trend. And the Philippines, with its population of 110 million, continues to be among the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the world.
He expressed gratitude to LAZADA for initiating the MOU, and for its big support to Philippine MSMEs and companies. “We look forward to more business partnerships between LAZADA and Filipino Chinese businesses in the months and years to come,” he concluded.