Digital payment transactions jumped on ‘Singles’ Day’

Electronic payment platforms made significant inroads in the country during the recent “Singles’ Day” or “11.11” online shopping event, according to financial technology firm PayMaya.

PayMaya, a mobile wallet operator, said on Tuesday that non-cash purchases such as cards and digital payments jumped 3.5 times versus last year’s Singles’ Day event. It said this indicated a “significant shift in digital payments and online shopping habits of Filipinos.”

Singles’ Day is a shopping event that started in China as a counter-holiday to Valentine’s Day.

PayMaya said usage of its mobile wallet services also surged “three-fold” over last year’s figure.

“The accelerated growth in digital transaction volumes during this year’s Singles’ Day shopping event is proof of this increasing savviness and growing trust in digital payments among Filipinos,” PayMaya president Shailesh Baidwan said in a statement.

According to Paymaya, Filipino shoppers splurged on travel, online marketplaces places and home furnishings.

PayMaya’s platform powers a host of payment solutions such as virtual payment cards, bank transfers, QR payments, bills payments, and prepaid reloading.

It also enables the online payment and acquiring needs of the country’s biggest e-commerce players through its PayMaya Checkout solution, allowing them to accept Visa, Mastercard, and JCB credit, debit, and prepaid card as well as e-Wallet payments from their consumers.

PayMaya is operated by Voyager Innovations, a company backed by PLDT Inc., China’s Tencent Holdings, global fund KKR and the World Bank’s IFC and the IFC Emerging Asia Fund.

The company is setting aggressive growth targets for its fintech arm. PayMaya’s chief operating officer said the platform was targeting to handle at least P1 trillion in annual transactions starting 2023.

By the 2022, the company is expected to have 40 million users, a big slice of the country’s roughly 100 million people, he said.

PayMaya’s plans are in line with the government’s goal of increasing the share of digital transactions to 20 percent by next year.