GCash, the country’s leading online payment portal, sees P1 trillion transaction value this year, a feat they accomplished in three years before the pandemic.

Frederic Levy, GCash chief commercial officer for transfers, cited the momentum that GCash is currently enjoying as more people are adopting to online payment to avoid cash payment as cash is also a tool to transmit the virus.

“We are going to reach P1 trillion of annual gross value this year,” said Levy, noting that this is more than the cumulative gross value GCash had accomplished in a span of three years - 2017-2018-2019.

What they accomplished in three years, they accomplished in one year, stressed Levy at  the PH Ecommerce webinar on Challenges and Opportunities: Changes in Ecommerce business behavior in the Post COVID-19 Era.

He cited having served 2 million people with close to P14 billion worth of transaction value disbursed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development as part of the social amelioration program to beneficiaries through GCash during the pandemic.

In addition, he said, there are close to 2 million daily log ins by users indicating the frequency of people transacting online and using the GCASH payment portal.  This level, he said, speaks a lot of the digital shift and which is expected to keep on growing.

Martin Cu, Ninja Van Philippines country head, said he expects this momentum to continue as more micro, small and medium enterprises are adopting to the current situation.

“I think the transition to digital is going to be a systemic behavior, this is about penetration and once know how to facilitate that kind of transaction there is  no reason to go back,” he said noting it is unlikely that companies will go back to the traditional brick and mortar way of doing   business.

“This pandemic has accelerated the adoption curve for e-commerce than creating short term crunch,” he said.

He said that as business grows, this will provide the company to increase its fleet, make its partners more productive and the potential of hiring more.

Launched in the Philippines 2016, Ninja Van Philippines has expanded its reach to 95 percent of the Philippine population with over 7,000 riders, making it the country's most reliable ecommerce logistics company.

Commenting on a bill filed in Congress on digital transactions tax, Cu said the bill though still being deliberated is a good thing as he expressed hopes of reinvestments in the right way to help facilitate growth of the industry and help the entry of more businesses.

For his part, Levy reiterated the momentum in the digital shift. He also warned that by definition, a momentum can be fragile so he urged that whatever the government or the legislators put on the table it should be to support the momentum to grow, make its implementation easier and give more opportunities to create livelihood.

“There are cost implications so make sure that whatever move to take will balance this momentum,” he added.