E-commerce dominated over other businesses during the entire pandemic period that began in March 2020, a top executive in the credit card industry said.
The official said purchases made through e-commerce increased by 132 percent in 2021 from the previous year, a clear testament that majority of consumers prefer to buy online then delivered at their doorsteps rather than go out and buy at supermarkets or malls.
“That’s according to the e-Conomy SEA 2021 report published by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company,” Simon Calasanz, country manager of MasterCard, told Newsbytes.PH.
These online purchases are food, grocery items, household items, electronics and accessories, the report said.
Popular categories within e-commerce includes online grocery shopping as people are cooking more, as well as e-commerce marketplaces where consumers are focusing on essential needs and products that help support work-from-home arrangements, such as laptops, desks and, work chairs, Calasanz.
In Philippines alone, the MasterCard official said, 69 percent of Filipinos also increased their frequency of food delivery orders vs pre-Covid as it made their lives easier.
Healthtech and Edtech were two nascent sectors that accelerated rapidly due to Covid-19, said Calasanz, a former president of Credit Card Association of the Philippines.
“The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of payments in the Philippines. With lockdowns and movement restrictions, many Filipinos turned to e-commerce for their daily needs. In physical retail environments, many operators have encouraged the use of contactless payments to minimize contact with consumers, and keep everyone safe,” the official added.
There are 15 universal banks that issue credit cards in the Philippines powered by MasterCard.
Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed credit card loans slipped by 2.5 percent to P400.11 billion in end-June 2021 from P410.41 billion in the same period last year. This translated to an 8.6-percent drop in household lending to P818.96 billion from P895.59 billion.
