SINGAPORE-BASED TECHNOLOGY company Anchanto Pte. Ltd. is bullish on the boom of e-commerce in the Philippines as it eyes to invest $2-3 million in the country in the next two years.
Anchanto Founder and Chief Executive Officer Vaibhav Dabhade said in a recent interview that the firm has grown to cater to close to a thousand online sellers, retailers and distributors connected to its platform in the country a year after it entered the Philippine market.
“We already invested quite a lot in the Philippines. If you look at our business plans, we’ll be investing close to $2-3 million for the next two years in the Philippines,” he said in a Jan. 18 phone interview.
Anchanto is a technology company that offers software and products for e-commerce firms which are used for selling operations and warehouse management. Mr. Dabhade said some of their biggest clients in the Philippines are Great Deals E-Commerce Corp., the Primer Group of Companies and SSI Group, Inc.
“In terms of the outlook for the market, we believe that Philippines is one of the sizeable in terms of population in Southeast Asia. We believe that Philippine e-commerce will grow substantially. As of now, we see that adoption is increasing very, very fast,” he said.
The Anchanto head noted that although the country is challenged by factors such as subpar internet connectivity and speed, the company continues to see growth in the adoption of its technology here.
“Even though there are challenges…, we see a growth in the Philippines… There will be more sales channels for online sellers, and there will be more channels for consumers also to buy products through digital commerce in the Philippines. That’s why we are also very, very upbeat about the Philippine market,” Mr. Dabhade said.
He added that the growing adoption of mobile wallets is likewise helping Anchanto’s business as the growth in digital transactions will keep the demand for its technology.
“We built our Philippine business by providing our customers a very, very local support… We invest to make sure that we localize our product…so that our customers never feel that they’re working with a foreign company, and they are operating on a different time zone, different language,” Mr. Dabhade noted.
Anchanto currently operates offices in Singapore, the Philippines, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. Mr. Dabhade said the company is also eyeing to expand into the Middle East and North Africa soon.
“Middle East and North Africa, that’s the region where we really want to (grow)… We are growing faster in those regions. So we want to be present there with more teams and more investments,” the Anchanto head said. — Denise A. Valdez

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