Digital payments have now overtaken cash as the preferred mode of payment of Filipinos for online shopping, digital financial services company PayMaya said recently.

Speaking during the launch of the updated DTI e-commerce roadmap for 2022, Orlando Vea, founder and CEO, PayMaya, 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.

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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 (DTI) on Friday.

With the updated e-commerce roadmap for 2022, the DTI is targeting to increase e-commerce merchants to one million from a base of 500,000 and hike e-commerce contribution to Philippine gross domestic product to 5.5%, from the current rate of 3.4%.

Post-pandemic

“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 Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

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.