Not far from Vietnam, Chinese people buying bundles of vegetables also paid by scanning the QR Code. Hong Kong people used the magnetic card to pay for the whole restaurant. Singaporeans only needed credit cards to shop at most everywhere on the island nation.
What about a country that had always been at the forefront of embracing new technology? With a generation of young consumers and a strong commitment to the government’s cashless society, the day, when people on the street could scan phones and use credit cards to pay for most everyday transactions, was nearby.
Dang Tuyet Dung, director of Visa Vietnam and Laos, would share about the opportunities for Vietnam to transform itself into a cashless economy.
This year was the last year to carry out the government’s ‘Project to develop non-cash payment in Vietnam for the 2016-2020 period’. Until then, what did Dung think about the results of this project?
According to Dung, a survey of consumer payment attitudes in Southeast Asia in 2019 of Visa said that while 84 percent of people in the region chose to use cash as the primary payment method, this ratio in Vietnam was only 71%, the lowest in the region. With the above results, it was believed that the cashless payment of Vietnamese consumers was making remarkable positive changes.
According to data from VisaNet, Visa’s advanced payment processing network, the total transaction value of Vietnamese consumers using Visa credit and debit cards in 2019 increased by 39 percent over the same period in 2018, and total transactions increased by 54%.
She believed that the day towards a cashless society was shortening rapidly.
Did Visa notice any changes in consumer behavior in the post-COVID-19 period?
In a recent survey conducted by Kantar Vietnam, more than 50 percent of Vietnamese surveyed people were shopping more at e-commerce websites due to the influence of COVID-19. Also, 79 percent of Vietnamese consumers currently preferred to pay with cards and mobile apps at the moment. In particular, 85 percent of consumers still chose to use electronic payments (payment via cards and mobile applications) instead of cash after the COVID-19 outbreak. Soon, direct purchases at the store were expected to be limited. Instead, consumers would switch to online shopping and delivery channels, as well as contactless payment methods.
In the world, although the impact of COVID-19 on the level of receiving non contact payments had not been clearly shown, the habit of consumer spending on essential product categories would daily change. As in the United States, the level of awareness and use of contactless payments was increasing for consumers who needed to restrict interaction when making payments at present.
In terms of spending on shopping, consumers were gradually turning to shop on digital commerce platforms. Leading companies and brands had built comprehensive multichannel strategies, seamlessly integrating mobile, online, and in-store commerce. Because in-store purchases were strictly limited to all types of businesses, shoppers preferred experience more explosive digital commerce than ever before.
What were the policies of Visa to promote cashless payment in Vietnam?
Visa would support the government’s goal of transitioning to a cashless economy. As Dung, Visa always worked closely with the stakeholders to realise this goal. According to the Visa Southeast Asia Consumer Payment Survey, 79 percent of consumers in Vietnam said they support the government’s ‘no cash’ goal the highest percentage ever in regional recognition, and 74 percent of Vietnamese consumers expected to increase cashless payments over the next 12 months.
As a global payment technology company, Visa had been striving to promote cashless payments, especially contactless payments, to contribute to making this technology a new trend in the Vietnamese market.
With the trend of consumers turning to online shopping, to help consumers more convenient and economical, Visa had cooperated with many business partners on e-commerce, such as Shopee, Tiki, Now, GrabFood, Fahasa, to offer convenient and economical consumption programmes with many utilities when buying and selling online with Visa cards. Continuing in June, there would be more new programmes in which Visa invested with partners to bring consumers additional benefits, best support the consumer needs.
Were there any challenges for this cashless society?
In fact, cash was still the most popular payment method in Vietnam. However, according to a survey, the reason for fewer cash users was the increasing number of places that accepted digital payments.
Dang Tuyet Dung shared, first of all, helping consumers and contactless payment acceptance points understand the benefits of digital payments was an important work to encourage use. Secondly, it was essential to give consumers more opportunities to use digital payments. If it were able to help digital payment acceptance points continue to expand, more consumers would likely switch to card or phone payments instead of cash.
Currently, the organisation was also implementing a plan to encourage not only cashless payments but contactless payments. They would continue to promote promotions to encourage consumers to try out new payment methods, with the ultimate goal of helping change payment behavior in the future.
