MSMEs plan to invest in more payment options to build digital trust: PayPal survey
Credit and Finance for MSMEs: In a survey of 250 MSMEs in India launched by digital payment processor PayPal on Wednesday, 98 per cent said they plan to invest in more payment options to build trust among customers in their platforms. This included digital ways of payments and cards. Also, 38 per cent said they are planning to invest in improving the checkout and payment experience. The online survey was conducted before Omicron hit India — from October 6 to November 3, 2021. The turnover of MSMEs surveyed, who may have/haven’t been PayPal customers, ranged from Rs 5 crore to Rs 250 crore and belonged to services segment (36 per cent), production (28 per cent), and retail & hospitality (16 per cent).
“Digital trust is more important. When MSMEs look at going international and online, they look at a few things from a payments platform – it should bring some credibility to their website and trust among customers and what that platform can do more for them beyond traditional ways of accepting payments online such as preferred card, bank account, points, buy now pay later etc., So MSMEs are expecting such options from global payment platforms. Also, speed of payment, quick access to their money, and managing fraud becomes equally important for them,” said Nath Parameshwaran, Director, Corporate Affairs, PayPal India at the e-launch of the MSME Digital Readiness Survey 2021.
The survey also reported that 52 per cent of the respondents claimed to be positively impacted by Covid in terms of better delivery options available, better transaction options, increased cross-border trade, increased offerings and more online customers. 36 per cent reported negative impact due to Covid leading to supply chain issues, challenges in logistics, and decreased demand. The remaining 12 per cent claimed zero impact.
Moreover, two in three respondents said they use social media as a sales channel. Own e-commerce websites, company-owned apps, third party e-commerce platforms and marketplaces were digital channels currently in use by MSMEs. In fact, 49 per cent said they are keen on expanding or developing their own website or app while 48 per cent said they have no plan to expand their own e-commerce channels and 22 per cent weren’t using such platforms currently. The survey also reported that almost nine in 10 businesses have grown through cross-border trade during the pandemic period and that they would be expanding or exploring cross-border trade as a priority within the next 12 months.