Digital payments have now overtaken cash as the preferred mode of payment of Filipinos for online shopping, digital financial services leader PayMaya said.
Speaking during the launch of the updated DTI e-Commerce roadmap for 2022, PayMaya Founder and CEO Orlando Vea revealed that cashless modes of payment–which include e-Wallets such as PayMaya, cards, and bank transfers–have most likely reached a tipping point in 2020 where over 50% of online shopping transaction value in the country are now paid via cashless means, citing data derived from Google, Temasek, Bain & Company, and also data from Euromonitor and PayMaya.
“From Cash On Delivery, today COD now means Cashless Orders and Delivery. In 2020 alone, we processed over P95 billion worth of online shopping transactions across all of our platforms, which only shows that consumer preference for cashless payments and online shopping is overwhelmingly present,” Vea said.
Because of this development, he said the Philippines is on the cusp of an online shopping explosion in the next two years as FinTech providers, digital players, businesses, and the government accelerate the pivot to digital, bolstered by the launch of the update e-Commerce Philippines Roadmap 2022 by the Department of Trade and Industry on Friday.
With the updated e-Commerce roadmap for 2022, the DTI is targeting to increase e-Commerce merchants to 1 million from a base of 500,000 and hike e-Commerce contribution to Philippine GDP to 5.5%, from the current rate of 3.4%.
“As we recharge our economy and build back better in the post-pandemic era, let us create a ‘Better Normal’ by taking advantage of the benefits of e-commerce. And as we aim for fast, convenient, and easy commerce in a digital world, let us remember that more e-commerce means more jobs and employment generated for our countrymen,” said DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez during the launch of the updated e-Commerce roadmap.
According to Vea, the conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the push for e-Commerce, but the support of players in the entire ecosystem will turbo-charge its growth all the way to 2022.
“With the guidance of DTI and the push to make e-Commerce easy for all players involved, we are seeing online shopping and cashless payments boom in the country like never before. Consumers are now used to ordering online or via their phones and paying via cashless, and many businesses have accelerated their migration to digital, so there’s no turning back now when it comes to digital payments and e-Commerce in the Philippines,” Vea said.
Large and small businesses migrate online
With its end-to-end suite of digital payments solutions, PayMaya is the country’s leading Fintech uniquely offering services across consumers, enterprises, and government.
It is the largest merchant acquirer for key industries, processing payments for most of the Philippines’ biggest “everyday” merchants and e-Commerce players, marketplaces, and providers today.
Through its PayMaya app, it also enables consumers to easily open a financial account that can instantly be used to pay online, either via the PayMaya virtual card or by using their mobile numbers to transact. Its PayMaya Negosyo app, meanwhile, makes it easy for online sellers to accept QR and digital payments with setup only taking 1-2 days.
Last year, PayMaya saw marked increase in the number of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) utilizing its cashless payments solutions as many of them migrate or begin their operations online—with DTI recording as much as 900,000 newly registered business for the entire 2020.
“It’s not just the large merchants now that are going into the e-Commerce fray, even small businesses are very much in play, so we really expect this sector to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years,” Vea said.
“We will continue to introduce new platforms and programs that will help push the envelope on online and mobile shopping even further, as a support for this concerted push by the government and the private sector,” he added.
Ecosystem enabler
PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines with platforms and services that cut across consumers, merchants, communities, and government. Through its enterprise business, it is the largest digital payments processor for key industries in the country including “everyday” merchants such as the largest retail, food, gas, and eCommerce merchants as well as government agencies and units.
Through its app and wallet, PayMaya provides over 28 million Filipinos with access to financial services. Customers can conveniently pay, add money, cash out or remit through its over 200,000 digital touchpoints nationwide, the widest network in the country.
Its Smart Padala by PayMaya network of over 37,000 partner agent touchpoints nationwide serves as last-mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved with access to digital services.
