MANILA -- Fifty-five percent of Filipinos expect to spend more online this year, with purchases made through electronic channels seen to reach P121 billion, a payment solutions firm said Wednesday.

Mobile shopping alone will account for P56 billion of the total projected purchases, which will likely increase by 32 percent from 2017, according to PayPal's Cross-Border Consumer Research.

The Philippines is "extremely important" in the e-commerce space, with the third highest smartphone use among 7 Southeast Asian nations included in the study, said PayPal’s regional head for strategic partnerships Abhinav Kumar.

"They are finding more and more, and better reasons to buy online. We are seeing extreme positive development for the overall Philippines e-commerce scene," he said.

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Clothing and accessories, consumer technology and beauty products are the top 3 categories that Filipinos buy overseas through online shopping, according to the PayPal study, which had 1,006 Filipino respondents.

The respondents said they also "intend" to buy basics such as groceries, food and drinks, alcohol, household products and children's supplies.

"That’s what we found interesting, that they were looking for every day use cases like groceries and baby products. Domestically, they get comfortable of how the process works," Kumar said.

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Some 12.6 million Filipinos shop online internationally, each spending an average P3,302, Kumar said, citing PayPal data.

Seventy-six percent of Filipinos use PayPal to make payments and at least 71 percent of Filipino cross-border online shoppers trust the payment portal, the survey showed.

"Definitely we are convenient. They perceive us as a lot more secure than any other payment methods and that’s a very positive sign for us in this growing space," Kumar said