The future of consumer spending is in cashless payments. Is your business ready for the challenge?  

In order for a business to thrive and grow, it must learn to adjust to customer needs and their evolving behavior. In the same way a restaurant updates its menu to cater to changing appetites, so too must your business adjust its methods and processes to keep up with the market. 

Alternative payments, in particular, is a segment that continues to grow as more consumers choose to do cashless transactions and become more mobile. These include more than just credit and debit cards. Consumers can now pay for goods and services using e-wallets, QR codes, NFC or near field communication methods, as well as cryptocurrency. To ignore its rise would also mean choosing to not serve the consumers who use them; businesses need to keep up.   

Growing Smartphone Ownership Will Mean More Mobile Transactions

While credit card usage in the country remains low, the number of smartphone owners has been increasing with 65% of the population owning a smartphone in 2019. And it’s through this access to smartphones that digital wallets, sometimes called e-wallets, have grown in popularity.  

According to 2018 data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, there are 5 million active e-wallet accounts in the Philippines, while there are 28 million prepaid cards linked to e-money accounts. Combined, that’s over 30% of the entire population with the ability to pay without cash. That’s a market any business owner would be foolish to ignore.  

Accepting Alternative Payments Can Lead to New Customers

Accepting alternative payments means receiving more transactions and growing your customer base in the process. For now, one can still claim that cash is king. But if global trends are of any indication, that won’t be the case for long. 

Filipinos are slowly building the habit of choosing mobile payments for its convenience. To not acknowledge these new transactions would also mean not choosing to serve the consumers who use them—and that’s just a wrong business decision.  

Increased Online Shopping Will Fuel Digital Payments

Customers have become more comfortable shopping online and are using their mobile devices to do so. Data from the 2019 We Are Social Report shows that e-commerce penetration in the Philippines is now at 39%. This, along with the growing smartphone penetration, shows the significant role that digital payments will have in the future of, not just e-commerce, but the entire retail industry.   

Merchants Can Adopt Alternative Payments With Ease

There are many e-wallet providers in the market today and they each bring their own set of customers. But in the end, no matter what e-wallet a customer may have, they’re all willing to pay. It’s now up to businesses if they can accommodate their request.  

For merchants who want to accept alternative payments, One by PayMaya Business is an all-in-one solution for cashless payment needs. Using a sleek and portable Android-based device that fits in the palm of your hand, PayMaya One allows merchants to accept payments via Visa, Mastercard, WeChat Pay, PayMaya QR, and other e-wallets.  

WeChat Pay, in particular, is an e-wallet that businesses shouldn’t ignore; they now have more than 1 billion monthly active users who use it as their primary payment method. With a quick scan by a customer, One by PayMaya Business is ready to accept such QR payments. With a dip or tap of an EMV-enabled credit card, a purchase can be made in seconds. And with seamless integration into your point-of-sale, using it is easy and secure.  

It’s ideal for businesses that handle a lot of customers such as quick service restaurants (QSRs), hospitals, department stores and groceries, retail chains, and more.  

Bring alternative payments into your business today and be ready for the future of cashless payments. Find out more about how One by PayMaya Business can help you by getting in touch here.