It’s no secret that the first half of 2020 has brought many immediate changes on how we conduct our daily business. With a global pandemic barring most people from going outside, technology has been our primary means of doing business and communication.
In the recent Digital 2020 April Statshot report of Hootsuite and We Are Social showed that the number of mobile connections in the Philippines increased to 159% while 73 million people were connected to the Internet in January 2020 alone.
The freeze on on-ground economic activity delivered a massive blow to all businesses regardless of size. Going digital is the only thing that keeps some business from going broke, utilizing social media for marketing and taking advantage of the Philippines’ digital landscape to get more income or even to simply break even. E-commerce is highly expected to significantly rise due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Philippines is one of the countries in Asia with the steepest decline in human mobility, a record of 82% drop in usage of retail and recreational facilities has been recorded. According to a report by Maybank in April 2020, however, lockdowns and quarantines have increased online consumer activity. In addition, more and more food merchants are signing up for food delivery services like GrabFood and FoodPanda, among others.
In the Philippines, GCash is helping fuel the digital economy by providing a payment gateway between merchants and consumers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even before the pandemic, GCash has advocated for the shift from cashless transactions. Now more than ever, we are willing to work with the national government to define a new normal for the financial industry in order to spare the economy from the impact of a full-on recession,” said GCash Head of Payments Jovitt Bajar.
E-wallets such as GCash can drive payments and further lessen human contact to avoid the spread of COVID-19. While exchange of currency can’t be avoided, using digital transfers can reduce the risk and might just flatten the curve as well as encouraging the next step in payments.
As of today, GCash has become a rather popular means of transacting in the Philippines. Aside from digital payments, GCash wallets may also be used to pay for physical transactions in 70,000 merchants nationwide. Though physical payments can be used, person-to-person contact is still minimized since merchants can use GCash’s Scan-to-Pay method via your barcode.
“It’s not just a matter of convenience anymore. Emerging from the crisis means we have to prioritize our customers’ safety,” Bajar added.
If you still don’t have a GCash account or any means of digital payments, you can download their app available in the App Store, Google PlayStore, and the Huawei AppGallery.
