The use of Electronic Commerce (eCommerce) and FinTech facilities in the Philippines are at an all-time high due to the ongoing pandemic. During the first few weeks of the global health crisis, there was this joke circulating in social media: “Who pushed for your company’s digital transformation – your CEO or COVID-19?” In most cases here in the country, the answer is clear.

Allow me to share some of the best value, high-security eCommerce and FinTech companies/services that I had tried (and used most) in the past few months.

Mobile Wallets

The same players in the local telecoms industry duopoly are backers of the big names in the country’s mobile wallets game: GCash and PayMaya. Both mobile wallets, on the onset of this pandemic, had become household names when you want to send money or payment to someone online or in person. The current health crisis promoted the use of contactless payment channels, and both GCash and PayMaya are leveling up their services when it comes to the mobile wallets space by offering more than just money remittance to their huge customer base.

FinTech

When we talk about FinTech in the Philippine setup, PayMongo is the first name that registers on top of my head. Offering local businesses online payments API that complies with PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) standards, they are the first Filipino-owned fintech startup to be accepted in Y Combinator’s accelerator program – yup, that American seed money startup accelerator that has launched more than 2,000 companies to include Stripe, Airbnb, Cruise Automation, DoorDash, Coinbase, Instacart, Dropbox, Twitch, and Reddit. The people at PayMongo are also uber-cool that during the early days of the community quarantine, they offered their services to create the donation pages (that accept credit/debit cards, GCash, and GrabPay) for non-profit and religious organizations (like the one being used by our parish).

Online Shopping

Among the new pastimes of Filipinos during the imposition of the different community quarantine restrictions is online shopping. We, Filipinos, love to shop (that’s why we have some of the biggest malls on the entire planet), and not even this pandemic can stop us from doing this – thanks to the Internet and the Web.

Shopee and Lazada are the two big names when it comes to online shopping in the Philippine setup – but both are not Filipino companies. However, the local operations of both eCommerce giants saw the exponential rise in online sellers who wish not to be burden with logistics, billing, collection, and other stuff related to the business.

Before the entry of Shopee and Lazada, we already have Kimstore – one of the early eCommerce websites (they started during the heydays of Multiply.com, some 15 years ago). Up to this very day, Kimstore has become synonymous with a bang for the buck online shopping for gadgets in the Philippines.

Hoping that the ongoing pandemic will end soon, but I wish that more eCommerce and FinTech companies (preferably made by Filipinos) will flourish locally. More choices mean more freedom for consumers.