7 of 10 Pinoys prefer online SME presence

MANILA, Philippines — More than seven out of 10 Filipino consumers believe local retailers should have online presence amid the shift in behavior brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic.

Dan Wolbert, country manager for the Philippines and Guam at Visa, said there is a changing consumers’ preference to shop online.

Based on the YouGov study commissioned by Visa and conducted in July, 75 percent of Filipinos believe it is important for small businesses to have online presence.

Likewise, 95 percent of the respondents said they were willing to shop at local retailers more often to support them in business recovery due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wolbert said one in six active Visa cardholders in the Philippines who did not make an online purchase last year shopped online for the first time this year.

To encourage consumers to support local businesses while helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to go digital following the onset of COVID-19, Visa has launched Where You Shop Matters.

The initiative is part of Visa’s broader small business strategy and follows commitments the company has made to support 10 million small and micro businesses in the Asia Pacific, and a global commitment from the Visa Foundation of $210 million to provide COVID-19 emergency relief for the small business sector.

As part of the initiative, Visa has partnered with leading e-commerce platform Shopee to help support thousands of local small businesses.

Visa is providing SMEs with a Visa eCommerce Starter Kit to help them start, manage, and grow their online storefronts. It also partnered with BigCommerce to provide onboarding support and special discount rates for SMEs to sign up and start selling online.