MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Although cash is still primarily the preferred method of payment, more Filipinos are embracing cashless payments based on the findings from the latest Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes study. This is the fifth edition of the Consumer Payment Attitudes Study conducted on 3,000 individuals across eight markets in Southeast Asia.
Findings from the study highlighted that 75% of respondents plan on using more card payments instead of cash. In addition, two out of three respondents in the Philippines tried going cashless and close to 60 per cent have gone cashless for at least a few days. Top benefits cited by respondents on why they use cashless payments include increased convenience, hassle-free and not carrying as much cash.
“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% of respondents are aware of contactless card payments, an increase of 11% compared to 2017. In addition, 84% 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 Dan.
Transportation in the Philippines is a category where Filipinos are keen to use e-payments. 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.
Beyond that, the research also shows how Filipinos are open to future technology to pay for their goods and services. Such technology leverages on card-on-file payments or digital payments. Six in 10 respondents express interest in using AI chatbots to order and make payments for their purchases. 90% of respondents are also interested to use self-service checkout kiosks instead of going to cashier counters, and 72% of them prefer to use their payment cards, contactless payments or biometric payments.
