In today’s increasingly digital world, the use of cashless payments has gained significant momentum in the Philippines. Far from the novelties they once were in the past, Quick Response or QR code payment methods have become an integral part of the customer payment experience. It only makes sense for both small and big businesses to take note and to streamline their payment acceptance processes to accommodate modern Filipino customers.
One solution that has emerged to address this need is QR Ph, developed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to standardize the use of ewallet QR code payments. Here’s a briefer on QR Ph that contains everything a business owner like you needs to know.
QR Ph: An Overview
Based on what’s known as the Europay Mastercard Visa (EMV) global standard for secure payments, the BSP conceptualized QR Ph to be the Philippines’ QR code standard. Through the use of QR codes, participating banks and non-bank electronic money issuers can be interconnected in their operations. This creates a faster and more secure way for constituents to pay, transfer money, and receive funds.
Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, unlike traditional payment methods, QR Ph enables businesses and customers to facilitate transactions completely digitally. It eliminates the need for physical cash or even cards, creating efficiency and convenience for both consumers and business owners.
How QR Ph Can Streamline Payment Acceptance for Your Business
During the earliest days of its adoption, the QR code payment Philippines’s consumer base largely included establishments like malls, department stores, and supermarkets, as well as restaurant chains. Eventually, however, the technology became more accessible and widespread in its use. Thanks to fintech companies like Maya, even micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can use QR Ph as a payment solution and enjoy the following benefits:
Completing Transactions That Are Low-Risk and Error-Free
Because QR Ph transactions are fully digital, there’s little to no risk of theft, counterfeit currency, and other similar issues when such transactions are ongoing. What’s more, QR codes contain specific transaction details. As such, businesses that use QR code payment systems experience significant reductions in transaction errors that usually occur during manual entry. With a QR code system in place, your business can expect higher accuracy when it comes to payment processing.
Increasing Payment Flexibility
As mentioned above, the digital evolution of payments has changed the habits of Filipino consumers. More and more people have grown to rely on their e-wallets—even and especially those who are unbanked.
Through QR Ph, your business can tap into a wider customer base by providing them with more digital payment options. This will allow you to attract new customers and retain existing ones, whichever payment method they prefer.
Adopting digital payment solutions also enhances customer experience and satisfaction. With the flexibility it provides, QR Ph can help your business provide better customer service and cultivate customer loyalty. Lastly, embracing QR Ph and digital payments, in general, can help your business capture more sales opportunities and thus improve your revenue generation opportunities.
Improving Time- and Cost-Efficiency
Aside from facilitating faster and more convenient transactions, which will ultimately make your business more time-efficient, implementing QR Ph can also result in cost-saving benefits for your company.
One significant benefit is the reduction of payment processing costs. This is because QR Ph transactions typically incur lower fees compared to traditional payment methods. You’ll also eliminate the need for physical payment terminals, which tend to cost a lot of money to acquire and maintain. With QR Ph, transactions can be conducted using smartphones and dedicated QR scanners.
Using QR codes and digital payment systems can also simplify transaction reconciliation and reporting. Because everything is recorded digitally, it’s easier to compare transactions, find supporting documents, and resolve any discrepancies in your business’s finances.
Aside from affording your business cost savings, QR Ph also helps your customers save money. QR Ph transactions, after all, are free for customers to use, and they can opt out of fees when doing bank transfers for their payments.
Enhancing Security
QR Ph transactions prioritize security, providing a secure payment ecosystem for your business and your customers. Thanks to data encryption and authentication protocols, you can ensure the integrity and confidentiality of your customers’ payment data. This makes it more difficult for fraudsters to tamper with or replicate customer information, thus lowering the risk of counterfeit or fraudulent transactions and strengthening customers’ trust in your brand.
Ultimately, these improve customer trust in QR-based payments. In turn, a QR payment ecosystem can lead to greater adoption of other digital methods, and with more customers using digital payments, you can further minimize errors, save time, and reduce operating costs.
QR Ph Implementation and Adoption Challenges
As you can see from the points argued above, there are significant benefits to implementing QR Ph. All the same, even successful implementation and widespread adoption don’t necessarily exempt your business from challenges.
While business owners typically need not worry about device requirements to adopt QR Ph because the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas mandates providers to ensure support for this QR standard, other issues like poor internet connectivity could still hinder you from getting the most out of this payment method.
You’ll also need to invest in user education and awareness. Many customers now use e-wallets and QR code payments, but some of them may still have questions or doubts regarding issues like interoperability. QR Ph may also not be as familiar to some generations of customers concept-wise. That means that it’s best for your business to exert effort into your customer awareness campaigns. For example, if you’re constantly being told by customers that they can’t use their e-wallet with your store because your QR standee appears to belong to a different e-wallet company, make it a point to emphasize that QR Ph codes are interoperable among all participating banks and fintech companies. It’s also a good idea to highlight this information on all your QR standees.
Finally, achieving a broader adoption of QR Ph requires collaboration between the BSP, financial institutions, payment service providers, and businesses. This will help streamline implementation efforts and drive acceptance. As a business owner, stay up to date with the fintech industry as well as your home industry and be aware of how other institutions’ movements affect your own.
Ultimately, QR Ph offers significant benefits for Philippine businesses of all shapes and sizes seeking to streamline payment acceptance processes. By leveraging QR Ph and exploring trustworthy QR solutions like Maya Business, you’ll be poised to take full advantage of QR technology and use it to improve both your company’s finances and your customers’ future experiences with your brand.
