The festive seasons remained cloaked in uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic in recent years.
Despite the ongoing concerns, the pandemic painted a positive picture of the digital payment ecosystem in the last two years, with buyers increasingly accepting cashless modes of payment.
The changes have altered not just what people purchase and where they purchase it, but also how they pay, and these payment patterns are projected to continue.
Consumers are optimistic about returning to normal in 2022, while businesses see it as the year of recovery from the losses incurred over the previous two years.
According to the Bangladesh Bank data, merchants' payments declined by 9.33 per cent in January 2022. Experts believe that this figure would climb throughout the ongoing Eid season, as the new consumers' payment pattern signals that the country is progressively transitioning to a cashless society, especially in terms of shopping.
In addition, payment companies are responding to the new trend by giving their customers a wide range of deals. The number of customers at retail centres has grown significantly centring the Eid. Customers, on the other hand, are pleased with the cashback and discounts offered by mobile financial services.
This Eid, mobile financial services provider Nagad's ongoing campaign styled 'Utshob-er Khushi, Nagad-a Beshi' is getting the highest responses and gaining popularity among consumers.
To help drive the country's positive trend toward digital payment acceptance, Nagad is giving up to 35 per cent cashback and discounts on Eid purchases across all segments, including e-commerce, superstores, tours and travel, restaurants, and lifestyle.
Rimon Ahmed, a consumer from Uttara, said, "I opted to make all my purchases with Nagad wallet since they give excellent discounts and rewards at every merchant criterion that fits all of my needs. By paying with Nagad wallet, I managed to save around half of my shopping budget."
Nagad designed these discounts to suit all the buying needs of customers over the festive season. Customers who use Nagad to pay for electronic products, for example, receive a 20 per cent instant rebate. Customers in the fashion and footwear categories can earn up to 35 per cent and 25 per cent cashback respectively.
Besides, 'Nagad' is also offering up to 50 per cent savings for online shopping and many more.
Additionally, throughout the month of Ramadan Nagad has made these offers available at more than 4,000 outlets across the country.
Some notable merchant partners of Nagad are Butterfly, Best Electronics, Rangs Electronics Limited and Transcom Electronics in the electronics segment; Go Zayan and SS Holidays in the travel and tours segment; Sailor, Artisan Outfitters Ltd, Cats Eye Ltd, Sara Lifestyle, Bata, Apex Footwear Limited, and Lotto in the lifestyle segment; Shwapno, Unimart, Agora, Meena Baazar, Daily Shopping, in the grocery segment; Pikaboo, Priyoshop and Hungrynaki in the e-commerce segment; KFC, Burger King, Chillox, Domino's and Chef's Table in the restaurant segment; Best Buy, Brother Furniture and Regal Emporium in the appliance and furniture segment and many more.
An official of Meena Baazar, a merchant partner of Nagad, said, "We're getting positive responses from customers this Eid. Also, a growing number of customers are paying with Nagad Wallets. We appreciate Nagad's collaboration and offering of such attractive discounts for our customers."
Sheikh Aminur Rahman, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Nagad, said, "Customers are rapidly adopting the digital mode of transaction, and to promote this positive trend, Nagad has designed this offer under the theme 'Utshob-er Khushi, Nagad a Beshi'. This Eid, we are trying to make people's lives a bit simpler with these offers."
Besides, during Ramadan, Brac Bank is giving discounts at over 1,100 partner outlets. And bKash is also offering a cashback and discounts to make Eid shopping more reasonable for customers.
Although the government and the central bank have taken several steps to reduce the country's reliance on paper currency, analysts believe incentives are required to persuade consumers to use digital payment methods such as cards and mobile financial services (MFS) in order to achieve its goal of becoming a cashless society.
Khandaker Shakhawat Ali, Emeritus Fellow, Unnayan Shamannay, said the size of transaction increases significantly during the two major religious festivals in the country -- Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha.
Taking this opportunity, digital payment platforms come up with different types of incentives like discounts, cashback, reward points on transactions, he said.
Previously, mobile financial services (MFSs) were mostly used for cash-in and cash-out services but during the last two years in the midst of coronavirus pandemic, people somewhat started getting used to other options of digital payments, he said.
Currently, the MFS market has been booming based on increased number of people to people (P2P) and business to business (B2B) transactions amid enhanced trust level of users, he said.
Mentioning that over Tk 650 billion was transacted via digital payment platforms during the last Eid-ul-Fitr amid the pandemic, he said, "I expect that the digital financial service providers are hoping for good business this year too."
Besides, he suggested three points to make the digital payments more secure -- firstly, consciousness of MFS users about keeping their password and transaction information secret; secondly, operators should emphasis more on electronic know your customer (e-KYC) as per the directives of regulators, and lastly, coordination among the service providers, Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commi-ssion (BTRC), to prevent fraud, money laundering and terror financing.
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