Cash-on-delivery is dying in Southeast Asia. Six different wallets are taking its place
Southeast Asia’s online shoppers spent the better part of a decade being nudged to stop handing cash to the courier. They are finally listening, though not in any single, tidy way. Cash-on-delivery (COD), long the default in markets where card ownership was thin and trust in online merchants thinner, made up about half of e-commerce […] The post Cash-on-delivery is dying in Southeast Asia. Six…
Cash-on-delivery (COD) is fading in Southeast Asia as consumers adopt a variety of digital payment methods. Cash-on-delivery accounted for about half of e-commerce transactions in 2019, but now makes up less than a third of online purchases. Six different wallets are replacing cash as the go-to payment method, with e-wallets dominating in Indonesia, account-to-account transfers leading in Thailand, and VietQR being the fastest-growing payment method in Vietnam.
In Singapore, cards still hold a significant share of online purchases, while e-wallets and bank transfers are gaining ground in Malaysia, the Philippines, and other markets. Merchants face challenges in catering to diverse payment preferences, with a significant portion of shoppers abandoning purchases due to a lack of preferred payment methods or security concerns.
Cross-border e-commerce is also growing, with Singapore leading the trend, while regulatory challenges pose obstacles for markets like Indonesia. Despite the growing importance of multiple payment methods, only a small fraction of business leaders feel their payment infrastructure is ready for the future, emphasizing the need for continued innovation in the region's payment ecosystem.
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