IN THE Philippines, geography has long shaped how e-commerce works. Distance adds cost, islands add time, and access has often depended on where sellers and buyers are located. As Shopee Philippines, a leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Brazil, marks more than a decade in the country, it continues to strengthen its capabilities in Visayas and Mindanao as part of its long-term commitment to improving access nationwide.
Over the years, e-commerce has become an essential channel for Filipino consumers and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Yet outside major urban centers, moving goods across islands has remained a practical constraint, affecting how quickly sellers can reach customers and how easily buyers can access products available elsewhere in the country.
Impact of strengthening access in VisMin
For many buyers in Visayas and Mindanao, what’s available to them is becoming less defined by where sellers are located.
In an archipelagic country like the Philippines, Shopee supports this shift by enabling sellers to position products closer to buyers through platform-supported solutions, helping make access less dependent on distance and geography.
Through Fulfilled by Shopee (FBS), sellers have the option to store inventory in Shopee-supported facilities, with packing and shipping handled by an ecosystem of third-party logistics partners through the platform. By easing fulfillment complexity, FBS helps sellers focus on growing their businesses, from improving products and pricing competitively to serving customers more consistently, while helping make access more reliable for buyers in Visayas and Mindanao.
For buyers, this means more consistent availability of everyday items and reduced reliance on long cross-island routes. As a result, average delivery times for many VisMin orders have been reduced from around seven days to about three to four days, supporting more predictable delivery timelines and costs for both sellers and buyers
“Making e-commerce work for the whole country means continuing to build capabilities that serve both buyers and sellers wherever they live,” said Vincent Lee, head of Shopee Philippines. “Our focus in Visayas and Mindanao builds on years of work to make buying and selling online easier and more reliable, while improving access for communities outside major urban centers.
Supporting MSMEs and local participation
Shopee’s work in Visayas and Mindanao also builds on its broader support for the Filipino MSMEs. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipino sellers have spent more than 110,000 hours on Shopee University courses, equivalent to more than 12 straight years of learning, as entrepreneurs build practical skills in pricing, marketing, customer service, and day-to-day business operations.
Alongside these efforts, Shopee expects its VisMin operations to support around 1,500 employment opportunities by 2026, across platform operations and seller enablement roles that support participation and growth within the e-commerce ecosystem.
As Shopee enters its next decade in the Philippines, the focus remains on the long-term work of building services and solutions that expand access, support livelihoods, and help e-commerce grow more evenly across the country.
