Getting your data ready for a conversational commerce world

The Philippine retail sector has seen one of its biggest years yet with about P4.7 trillion revenue generated in 2024, around four million daily visitors at the famous SM Supermalls, and a fast-growing e-commerce sector.

- By LIZ ADENIJI

But the best is yet to come for the industry poised to have a "banner year" in 2025, according to the Philippine Retailers Association. The landscape is ripe for retailers to leverage the booming e-commerce, high mall foot traffic thanks to Filipinos' love for malls, and a new tax refund scheme for foreign tourists that is expected to give a boost to local shops.

Imagine amping up these gains with conversational commerce—bringing the storefront experience to consumers with real-time, personalized conversations and allowing them to interact with brands directly, at any point in their shopping journey, and through the channels they prefer most.

There wouldn't be a better time to take stock of key learnings in 2024 and strategize to unlock evergreen growth in the days ahead. The industry, however, is not without its challenges. Retailers could find 2025 particularly challenging as competition intensifies with the expanding role of AI. Brands have incorporated AI to streamline operations, ramp up marketing, and gather data to better understand their customers. From purchase history, loyalty program status to buying behaviors, data proved to be an integral part of businesses, and players who know their customers best win. However, as it turns out, only 64 percent of brands in the Philippines say they deeply understand their customers, as revealed in Twilio's 2024 State of Customer Engagement Report.