PayMaya ventures into online shopping business

Digital financial services firm PayMaya is venturing into the online shopping business as it launched Thursday a “digital mall” feature within its app.

With the digital mall feature “PayMaya Mall,” the financial technology company is aiming to “help foster the growth and recovery of local businesses” hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mark Jason Dee, head of Growth Marketing and Partnerships of PayMaya, during a virtual launch on Friday.

Through PayMaya Mall, online shoppers can check out and buy from over 100 merchants accepting PayMaya as a payment method within the app.

Among the brands already present in the PayMaya Mall are Jollibee, McDonald's, Goldilocks, Rustans, Park Outlet, Mercury Drug, Rose Pharmacy, Landers, All Home, and Boozy.

More brands are coming soon as PayMaya is tapping into its network of over 116,000 merchant touchpoints, the company said.

“Mall shopping is so ingrained in Filipino popular culture and the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected not just consumers but also, the growth of retail merchants,” said Shailesh Baidwan, president of PayMaya. 

"With this initiative, we are bringing our partner merchants closer to our more than 28 million customers nationwide. Consumers, on the other hand, can get their regular shopping done from the convenience and safety of their own homes while enjoying exclusive perks and rewards  all through the PayMaya app,” he added.

In 2020, PayMaya said it has processed over P95 billion worth of online shopping transactions.

PayMaya is a unit of telco giant PLDT’s fintech arm Voyager Innovations Inc.—AOL, GMA News