The pandemic has boosted the business of multi-payment platform Electronic Commerce Payments Inc. (ECPay), increasing its digital merchant partners by 18% to 560 from April to July and spurring a 114% hike in the number of its customers to 27 million.
So far, ECPay is proving to be a good purchase for Globe Telecom Inc.
The telco acquired 77% equity interest in ECPay for P1.54 billion in October last year to add value to its distribution channels and provide a platform for small business owners.
To date, the ECPay service has direct access to customers nationwide using various digital channels, from mobile apps for eMoney, banking, lending as well as payment vending machines.
Its unique merchant partners with physical stores have 25,000 outlets nationwide.
The company’s biller portfolio also went up by 20% from 286 to 345 unique billers, expanding ECPay’s total portfolio to 2,872 billers.
The growth comesfrom billers engaged in loans, water, electric cooperatives, cable and internet, schools, and courier services.
“We are seeing the public’s growing willingness to adopt the digital lifestyle and we are glad to support them," noted Jasmin Montelibano, ECPay CEO.
"We now have a good mix of traditional and digital channels that we enable with the one-stop shop proposition,” she added.
Merchants with physical outlets, specifically pawnshops, have also dramatically grown their e-money business.
GCash cash-in volume, for instance, went up by as much as five times in April to July as compared to pre-COVID level.
ECPay also continues to work on improving its back-end operations, providing better tools for its workforce adapt to various working models under the new normal.