On May 16, Pix completed six months of operation. During this period, the instant payment method became a huge success among Brazilians.
According to recent data from Brazil’s Central Bank, there are now more than 242 million registered Pix keys. Over 75 million Brazilians have already used the instant payment method at some point to send or receive money – a number that accounts for approximately 45% of the adult population in the country. And there is more: since the beginning of its operation, Pix has already moved more than BRL 1.109 trillion!
And now, although P2P money transfers remain the main type of operation carried out with Pix, we have noticed an impressive increase in the payment method’s adoption by e-commerce and local businesses.
Pix’s expansion on digital platforms
Even before its debut, Pix was already positioning itself as a promising payment method due to its practicality, immediacy, and 24-hours availability to make payments. Further, Pix also has an inclusive nature: the payment method is free for payers and is not limited only to bank users, since digital wallet apps can also offer the modality.
With so many benefits, everybody wants to participate in this innovation. Slowly, we have noticed Pix’s increasing expansion beyond P2P money transfers, also reaching ecommerce businesses.
Americanas, one of Brazil’s largest retail chains, did not waste time and was the first to offer Pix in their ecommerce platform to later integrate the payment method in local stores. On May 12, over 1700 stores in Brazil started accepting Pix. The largest delivery marketplace in Brazil, iFood, also started offering the payment method to all the apps’ users on May 17.
Pix’s acceptance rate reaches 25% in Brazilian ecommerce
The largest players in the market are not the only ones that see Pix’s potential. According to a study carried out by Gmattos, in March, the payment method was available in 25.4% of online stores. According to business partner Gastão Mattos, the data from May should show an even larger acceptance rate: the executive expects Pix to be available in 50% of ecommerce stores.
One of the main discussions around Pix is if the payment method would replace boleto bancário. However, Gmattos showed the boleto still represents 20% of ecommerce revenue, against 0.5% to 1% from Pix.
Pix’s performance in ecommerce, according to PagBrasil
To better understand the instant payment method’s performance in ecommerce, PagBrasil carried out a study on Pix’s acceptance among partner merchants that offer the payment method.
The instant payment also showed an increase in transactions: in February, Pix represented 5.09% of payments. However, in April, the number went to 10%. The instant payment still holds a smaller share when compared to the traditional payment methods, such as boleto bancário – which in April represented 21% of transactions – and credit cards, with 69% of transactions.
Pix has also proven to be an alternative not only for boleto bancário, but also for credit cards. Many consumers prefer one-off payments with credit cards because of the accelerated confirmation. Therefore, Pix is a practical and quick alternative for customers that value agility but prefer paying with their account balance.
Further, the study showed that Pix’s conversions rates exceeded 80% in some online stores – a number that can vary according to unique elements in each ecommerce business, such as segment and average ticket.
PagBrasil Pix was launched on February 8. PagBrasil was the first payment processor to offer the instant payment method for merchants using the Shopify platform, besides also enabling Pix via API integration. And now, the solution has been extended to PagBrasil’s Payment Link and PagStream®, the subscription management solution.
Pix’s next steps and challenges
Pix still has much to evolve. After the launch of Pix Cobrança, scheduled for late May, the Central Bank of Brazil foresees new features for 2021, such as Pix withdrawal and proximity payments.
Read also: Pix: numbers and next steps for the new payment method
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