More Filipinos prefer e-payments instead of cash – survey

Six in 10 Filipinos considered carrying cash is unsafe (59%) and 26% of respondents said they are carrying less cash compared to 2011, gmanetwork.com reports. There is also stronger preference for using a debit card (59%) versus ATM card (41%). Filipinos that own payments cards – excluding ATM card – reached 43% in 2015 compared with 38% in 2014, with two cards per person, according to the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2015, the source cites.

The frequency at which Filipinos shop online – at least once a month – has increased to 60% in 2015 from 46% in 2014. The average online shopping session now lasts for 51 minutes. The reasons for shopping online are overall convenience (52%), the advantage of having the goods delivered directly to them (30%), better prices (10%), and the greater choice of products (8%).

There has been a significant increase in the usage of electronic payments in 2015 (29%) compared to 2014 (21%) and consumers have been making regular online transactions: bill payments (40% of surveyed), travel-related purchases (37%), food delivery (27%), personal electronics (24%), and fashion and accessories (21%). A high proportion of these transactions are made via mobile devices,” Visa noted.

Visa commissioned Acorn, a marketing research group, to conduct the online study from June to July 2015, with 3,000 respondents across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.