Fact: 7 out of 10 Filipinos prefer to use cash but an increasing number are embracing cashless payments, according to findings from the latest Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes study.
The study was conducted among 3,000 consumers across eight markets in Southeast Asia (Cambodia,
Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam). A total of 500 respondents were surveyed in the Philippines with income levels ranging from PH12,000
to PH80,000 monthly.
Two out of three Pinoys said they plan to increase the use of card payments over the next 12 months. Security and safety was cited as the top reason for going cashless, along with convenience and speed in facilitating a transaction.Card usage also has wider acceptance in stores, with rewards and special offers sometimes thrown in just for using a card.
“It is heartening to know that more Filipinos are seeing the benefits of using digital payments based on the findings from the study. Visa’s data also shows a similar trend, where we continue to see good double-digit growth in terms of spend and transactions made by Filipino cardholders. There is still a lot of opportunity for cash displacement in the Philippines and we continue to work on a few priorities in the Philippines such as grow digital payments usage in the country and expand merchant acceptance footprint for digital payments,” said Dan Wolbert, Visa’s Country Manager for the Philippines and Guam.
Contactless payments awareness and usage in the Philippines have also increased compared to 2017. The study showed that more than 80 per cent of respondents are aware of contactless card payments, an increase of 11 per cent compared to 2017. In addition, 84 per cent of respondents have also indicated that they are interested to use contactless payments.
“We have seen strong growth in contactless payments in the Philippines, especially after partnerships with key merchants such as SM and Robinsons who have implemented contactless payments acceptance across their stores in the Philippines. We will continue to engage more merchants and banks to promote the benefits of contactless payments,” added Wolbert.
The increasing preference for cashless payments is partly spurred by the rise of e-commerce and the emergence of ride hailing services like Grab as well as the Beep cards for public transport.
Based on the study, almost nine out of 10 Filipinos are generally supportive of e-payments for transportation which includes jeepneys, buses, trains, taxis and private car hires. In fact, more than half of the respondents think it is more convenient to pay using credit or debit cards for their transportation fares.
Then of course, there’s the existence of new technology. Six in 10 respondents expressed interest in using AI chatbots to order and make payments for their purchases. Ninety per cent of respondents are also interested to use self-service checkout kiosks instead of going to cashier counters, and 72 per cent of them prefer to use their payment cards, contactless payments or biometric payments.
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