It seems that more young adults embraced online shopping and cashless payment this recent holiday season due to the marketing promos and sales from digital companies.
Based on the data garnered by Voyager Innovation’s digital financial services arm PayMaya, the number of its account holders who made online transactions increased significantly from November to December 2017. Most of which fell to the millennial category and the result was three times higher than last year. Furthermore, unique account holders rose when online marketplaces such as Lazada, Zalora, and Takatack launched its respective online sales where an additional 20% discount were given exclusively for Paymaya users.
This only goes to show that more Filipinos are now getting comfortable with digital commerce since it is an efficient and convenient choice for holiday shopping.
“While mall shopping is still the norm for most Filipinos, we saw a marked increase in online shopping among our mostly millennial user base during the 2017 holiday season,” said Paolo Azzola, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of PayMaya Philippines.
Cashless transactions growing
The steadily growing use of cashless payment methods in online retail sites suggest that there is a noticeable shift of consumers who use alternatives such as PayMaya for their purchases, despite the availability of cash-on-delivery.
“On top of the online promo offerings, convenience and the worsening traffic in major cities are probably compelling more individuals to do their shopping online,” Azzola stated.
Pinoys crazy about gadgets
Aside from patronizing digital commerce, Pinoy shoppers seem to gravitate more toward electronics products, as eight of the top ten products ordered through Voyager’s online shopping marketplace called “Takatack”. Mobile accessories such as power banks, external hard drives, Bluetooth speakers, and smart watches were also their top picks.
“We are seeing encouraging results as more Filipinos go online to shop, especially during special seasons. This trend has translated to record-high transaction volumes at Takatack particularly during the Singles’ Day event in November, and we expect it to continue as we move on to 2018,” explained Marc Concio, Head for Digital Commerce at Voyager Innovations.
Adoption of digital payments and commerce has grown faster over the past two years as prepaid e-wallets regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) such as PayMaya have been introduced. These digital wallets foster financial inclusion as any mobile phone user in the Philippines can create an account and use it for online transactions up to a certain amount limit.
While this figure has most likely grown over the past year, accelerating digital payments adoption remains a top agenda for the nation. The National Retail Payment System initiative led by the BSP and supported by banks and e-money issuers like PayMaya aims to increase cashless transactions to 20% of the total volume of payment transactions by 2020.
Check out other offerings from Paymaya through their official website. Feel free to browse and see the latest products on sale at Takatack.