More Filipinos Carry Less Cash In 2021

Written by Marc Adrian

According to Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Study, the COVID-19 outbreak caused a significant number of Filipino customers to carry less cash last year. In their poll, 60% of Filipinos have less cash in their pockets, and 84 percent have considered becoming cashless by 2021.

Dan Wolbert, Visa country manager for the Philippines and Guam said in an interview:

“While cash is still commonplace in the Philippines the preference for cashless payments is clearly gaining momentum.” 

He further added that their study showed more Filipinos are confident to get by without cash and for longer periods of time – with more than half feeling confident to get by for a week or longer, as cashless payment options grow.

Bill payments, grocery spending, and retail buying drove the country’s cashless transformation, according to the financial services firm. Their study suggests that Filipinos believe COVID-19 has accelerated the country’s transition to a cashless society by at least three years. Now, seven out of 10 consumers anticipate that the Philippines can become fully cashless within the next seven to 10 years.

Mobile wallets are preferred by 64 percent of Filipinos, followed by card payments online (52 percent), card payments at physical stores (44 percent), and QR payments (31 percent).

Visa has suggested that the pandemic has accelerated the use of cashless payment systems, particularly mobile wallets and online card payments, with a huge number of first-time users as a result of the epidemic.

Meanwhile, in 2021, 83 percent of Filipinos are aware of contactless payments, and 69 percent have used them, up from 66 percent in 2020.

According to Visa, the epidemic was the biggest driver of online buying growth last year, particularly for digital transactions made through e-commerce applications. Their study showed that more people are turning to online shopping and for the first time utilizing apps or websites to make purchases. The report also implies that the lockdown orders in the past year have increased expenditure on commodities like home office supplies, consumables, personal care products, and content platform subscriptions.

 

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