FINTECH | QR Ph, InstaPay grow as cash-on-delivery persists in the Philippines
QR Ph and InstaPay payments on Xendit’s platform grew 198% in the 15 months to April 2026, but cash-on-delivery remained the Philippines’ leading e-commerce payment method by transaction value among six Southeast Asian markets surveyed, according to a report released Oct. 15.
The Xendit Ecommerce Payments Momentum Report 2026, produced with e-commerce data firm Cube, draws on a survey of 1,000 Filipino online shoppers as part of a 6,000-respondent study across six Southeast Asian markets, along with Xendit’s transaction data.
Despite the growth of real-time payments, cash-on-delivery accounted for about 23% of Philippine e-commerce value recorded by Xendit, the highest share among the six markets. Vietnam followed at about 16%.
The report also found that 41% of Filipino respondents had abandoned an online purchase in the previous three months because their preferred payment method was unavailable, making payment options the most commonly cited checkout frustration.
“Filipino consumers have always been receptive to new technology and we see the same in digital payment, but they don’t all pay the same way. One wants an e-wallet, another scans a QR Ph code, another uses a card,” said Nazim Ali, Xendit president.
“So for a business, going digital isn’t about choosing one main payment method and steering everyone onto it. It’s knowing which methods your digitally savvy customers actually use, offering those, and making sure each one is secure. If people can’t find the option they use, or don’t trust the checkout, they leave,” he said.
Real-time payments gain ground
QR Ph and InstaPay accounted for about 13% of e-commerce value in Xendit’s data. E-wallets remained dominant, with GCash a major payment option in the Philippines, but e-wallet transactions on Xendit’s platform grew by only 3% over the same 15-month period.
The report linked the shift toward QR Ph and InstaPay to the broader push to expand digital payments in the country.
Across Southeast Asia, 32% of 25 business leaders surveyed by Xendit identified QR payments as the method experiencing the strongest increase in customer demand. E-wallets and bank transfers followed at 20% each.
Cash-on-delivery remains entrenched
Although 33% of Filipino respondents said they used cash-on-delivery much less than a year earlier, 12% said nothing would persuade them to switch to digital payments. Xendit said that share was about twice the level in most of the other markets surveyed.
For consumers open to switching, discounts and cashback were the most commonly cited incentives, mirroring the regional trend.
The report projects that the Philippines will be the only market among the six surveyed where cash-on-delivery will still account for more than 20% of e-commerce value in 2027.
Payment options affect checkout completion
The 41% of Filipino shoppers who cited the absence of their preferred payment method as the main reason for abandoning a purchase placed the Philippines alongside Indonesia, where the figure was 51%, and Malaysia, at 31%.
In Vietnam, 42% of respondents cited security concerns as the leading reason for abandoning checkout, followed by Thailand at 33%.
The findings suggest that merchants need to offer payment methods suited to local customer preferences while maintaining secure checkout processes.
Fraud concerns expected to rise
Fraud was not yet a leading concern for most business leaders surveyed, with only 8% ranking it among their top two payment concerns. However, 48% expected it to become one within five years.
The report points to three developments that merchants will need to address: the expansion of real-time payments, the continued use of cash-on-delivery and growing concern about payment fraud.
Full disclosure: All news articles published on the TechSabado website are written by human journalists, unless otherwise specified. Final text editing is also performed by human editors, with artificial intelligence (AI) used only to assist with additional grammar and style guide corrections..
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