Cash is Still King in Brazil

Published on 07/04/2019 - Updated on 10/24/2019

Cash is still the preferred payment method among Brazilian consumers. The Brazil Digital Report by McKinsey pointed out that 47% of payment transactions in the country are carried out in cash. Check, credit card and debit card follow, with 22%, 18% and 12% of transactions, respectively. With roughly 55 million unbanked adults and a large informal economy, the predominance of cash payments in Brazil is no surprise.

However, in the e-commerce segment, there is still a huge gap that must be closed in order for online businesses to better serve customers who solely or predominantly use cash to pay for their purchases. To put it into context, nearly 60% of e-commerce payments are made with credit cards, which are accepted in every online store. On the other hand, alternative payment methods such as boleto bancário and online banking transfer are accepted by 69% and 38% of all e-commerce websites, respectively.

This means that at least 31% of businesses are missing out on the huge potential to increase their audience. By offering options that allow consumers to pay in cash, e-commerce merchants not only open their doors to unbanked consumers, they also enable people in a debt situation to pay for their purchases. In Brazil, 60.1% of households started 2019 with some sort of debt, with as much as 22.9% of them defaulting on payments and 9.1% stating they could not pay their debts. In this scenario, cash payment methods play an important role in driving e-commerce sales in the country.

For this reason, PagBrasil launched earlier this year a cash payment method designed for the e-commerce segment: PEC Flash®. In addition to being fully responsive, PEC Flash® does not require buyers to have a bank account, credit card, print something or download an app. And the payment confirmation is almost instant. The company also created Boleto Flash®, the only boleto in Brazil with payment confirmation in less than one hour, with the added benefit of a responsive layout.

To learn more about PagBrasil’s solutions for consumers who prefer to use cash to pay for their purchases, contact us.

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