More Pinoys shifting from cash to digital

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 19 Mar 2021

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos are now using digital commerce platforms and cashless payments due to the pandemic, according to the latest survey conducted by Visa.

Dan Wolbert, country manager for the Philippines and Guam at Visa, said in a virtual press briefing that the pandemic has transformed the way Filipinos shop and pay.

“Based on the latest highlights from our annual Consumer Payment Attitudes study, we see adoption of new consumer behaviors including more Filipinos using digital commerce platforms and helping to accelerate the usage of digital payments in the country,” Wolbert said.

He said Filipino consumers are carrying less cash as only five out of 10 payments are now made using cash, down from the pre-pandemic level of seven out of 10 payments.

The survey showed that 73 percent of the respondents use more contactless payments including mobile wallets.

Wolbert said 54 percent of the respondents perceive cash as unsafe because of the potential spread of COVID-19.

In addition, Filipinos see bill payments (81 percent), grocery shopping (71 percent) and overseas travel (68 percent) as the top categories where they would likely go completely cashless in the future.

According to the survey conducted in August and September last year, contactless payments had a 66-percent increase in usage among current users due to the pandemic.

In addition, 88 percent of Filipinos who had not used contactless payments showed interest in using this payment method in the future.

Top benefits perceived by Filipinos for usage of contactless cards include not having to carry cash with them with 88 percent, feeling safe from infection with 75 percent and being an innovative payment method with 68 percent.

“Based on Visa’s data, contactless transactions have been increasing steadily month-on-month in the Philippines since August last year. We believe that contactless payments will continue to grow as Filipinos appreciate the benefits of contactless payments, including perceiving this payment method to be more hygienic due to the absence of physical interaction at point-of-sale,” he said.

Even though the country made progress in digital payments adoption, Wolbert said there remains huge opportunity to encourage more Filipinos to embrace digital payments.

“When it comes to the preferred payment method. There is definitely still room for improvement in the Philippines as more than half of consumers still prefer using cash as a preferred payment method,” he said.

This is higher compared to cash usage in Indonesia at 28 percent, Malaysia at 23 percent and Singapore at 15 percent.

Furthermore, the survey also showed that close to nine in 10 Filipinos have increased their online shopping activities on websites or apps, while seven in 10 are shopping more on social media channels.

More than half of the consumers are also more inclined to shop from large online marketplaces with 53 percent and home-based businesses with 61 percent.

Likewise, more than nine in 10 Filipinos used home delivery and 67 percent of them increased their use of home delivery services during the pandemic.