Insider Spotlight
In an archipelagic country where distance and geography drive costs, MSMEs outside Luzon have long faced structural barriers to scaling online.
Cross-island shipping times and fulfillment complexity often limit how quickly sellers can serve customers and compete nationwide.
Shopee’s latest push aims to reduce those friction points, allowing provincial entrepreneurs to participate more fully in the digital economy.
What’s changing
Central to the strategy is Fulfilled by Shopee, which allows sellers to store inventory in Shopee-supported facilities while logistics partners handle packing and shipping through the platform.
By outsourcing fulfillment, MSMEs can redirect time and capital toward product development, pricing strategies, and customer engagement instead of managing warehousing and shipping operations.
For buyers in Visayas and Mindanao, this translates into shorter waiting times and more consistent product availability.
Average delivery times for many VisMin orders have improved from around seven days to about three to four days, reducing uncertainty tied to long cross-island routes.
The big picture
“Making e-commerce work for the whole country means continuing to build capabilities that serve both buyers and sellers wherever they live,” Vincent Lee, head of Shopee Philippines, said in a press statement on Feb. 18, 2026.
“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,” he added.
Shopee’s VisMin investments build on its broader MSME development efforts. Since the pandemic, Filipino sellers have logged more than 110,000 hours of training on Shopee University courses, covering pricing, marketing, customer service, and daily operations.
That sustained upskilling push reflects how platform-led education has become central to MSME competitiveness, particularly for first-time digital sellers in provincial markets.
What’s next
Shopee expects its VisMin operations to support around 1,500 employment opportunities by 2026, spanning platform operations and seller enablement roles.
As it marks more than a decade in the Philippines, the company’s regional expansion signals a longer-term bet: that unlocking MSME potential across the islands is key to building a more balanced and inclusive e-commerce landscape nationwide. —Vanessa Hidalgo | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
