He credit card consumption increased in Argentina in the second quarter of the year, driven by quotas and Contactless payments and promotions on special dates, such as Hot Sale and Father’s Day. Most of the operations were made in one payment (57.74%) and in second place were the installment plans (29.09%).
The information comes from the recent report of Payway, which shows a change in the consumption habits of Argentines in the means of payment for the second quarter of 2024 (April, May and June).
On the other hand, for the Simple Fee ProgramAhora 3 accounted for 45.56% of the volume of operations, Ahora 6 was 45.28% and Ahora 12, just 7.29%. The report highlights that the use of financing in longer installments grew, so that an increase is observed in plans of up to 12, although those of 2 and 3 continue to lead (40.39%).
In the analysis by category, those that grew the most year-on-year in transactions with all cards are Entertainment, with 30%, and Supermarkets, with 21%.
Cash withdrawals are on the rise
Cash withdrawals increased by 32.7% in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. While ATM withdrawals only grew by 9.84% in the same period.
In this sense, it is highlighted that cash withdrawal service in stores for up to $170,000, depending on availability at the cash register. “It continues to grow steadily and gain ground due to its capillarity,” said Emiliano Porciani, Chief Business Officer of Payway.
Payment methods: QR advances
In terms of numbers, the same report indicates that the QR grew, in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, by 398.23%, marking the leadership in digital payments.
Most of these payments are made with a debit card (51.43%), followed by credit (41.93%) and prepaid cards (28.76%).
Porciani also said that “the use of QR Payway has grown four times compared to last year due to the growth in all payment methods, credit cards, debit cards and payments with transfers.”
“With the incorporation of the interoperability regulations in the wallets of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA), Starting August 1, with our terminals, merchants can accept all payment methods through all wallets with a single device,” he said.
The growth of “contactles”
Finally, he said that, “in the Payway acquisition, the Contactless payments now account for two-thirds of in-person payments and they have grown four times compared to last year.” He also assured that “the new regulations of the Secretariat of Commerce of the Nation, which comes into force in its entirety on September 12, will allow the user to pay without handing over their card, which will continue to drive the change of habit towards contactless payments, the simplest and fastest mechanism on the market.”
Ignacio E. Carballo, Director of the Center for Alternative Finance at UCA, and PCMI (USA), He said in this regard: “Although in Argentina there has been a debate about QR as a payment methodcurrently, there is interoperability for paying with credit cards through that instrument. The credit card strategy seeks to continue developing the most widely used technologies globally, with benefits of standardization, homologation, infrastructure and security.”
Finally, Ariel Setton, economist specializing in payment methods, held to Ambit that “the QR in Argentina managed to popularize digital payments” and highlighted that the next advances will be linked to the use of NFC without QR, both in physical POS and, now, against cell phones.
Source: Ambito
