E-commerce to drive FedEx holiday shipments this year

MANILA, Philippines —  Logistics provider FedEx expects e-commerce to be a big driver of shipments during the holiday season.

FedEx managing director for the Philippines Maribeth Espinosa told reporters that the company is seeing an increase in shipments this holiday season.

“We are actually experiencing that and we’re happy to report also for the different (sectors), I think some of you have been writing about weaker demands in the first half of the year, but now we’re seeing that growth,” she said.

She said e-commerce is seen as a big driver of shipments this holiday season.

“Some industries would be on a very high trend like apparels and dresses for e-commerce business,” she said.

On the other hand, she said shipments of the semiconductor industry may post a slower growth rate.

According to data and analytics company GlobalData, the Philippines e-commerce market, which has been growing at a fast pace, is expected to expand by nearly 20 percent to P1.3 trillion ($24.1 billion) this year from P1.1 trillion ($20.1 billion) last year.

It said the Philippine e-commerce market has been rising, driven by a large young population, increasing confidence in online payments, improving logistics and the availability of secure alternative payment solutions in the country.

It also said shopping festivals such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Single’s Day have also contributed to the overall growth.

Espinosa said the period of September until December is a big season for the Philippines.

“Right now, we are also seeing that big period for us,” she said.

She said FedEx is optimistic that the business will continue to grow in the Philippines.

“We know that there is capacity and room to grow and we’ve seen that and we’re trying to help also those SMEs (small and medium enterprises) grow and we are seeing them growing so we know that there is business coming up for us,” she said.

Last July, FedEx announced it intends to invest further to double the capacity of its hub in Clark, Pampanga.