Generation Z (Gen Z) consumers are major drivers of digital payment adoption growth in rural areas in the Philippines, even as older generations still rely on cash for both online and in-store purchases, according to experts.
“It’s really younger that’s helping drive digital payment adoption compared to older rural consumers,” Omar Carlos, assistant vice president for data and product enablement at WPP Media, told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“If you look at it from a younger rural Filipino lens, they are the ones who are really more open to digital adoption, to online payment,” he added.
The 2026 Philippine Hyperlocal Study: the Rural Consumer You Think You Know by Ogilvy, WPP Media and Fifty5Blue found that 100% of rural consumers prefer paying in cash, and only 21% use digital wallets or credit cards for their purchases.
“We saw that cash still really closes the sale,” Ogilvy Head of Strategy Toni Tiu told BusinessWorld in an interview. “Even in sari-sari stores, they are king, and proximity and availability will determine purchase.”
“It’s not just their preference in terms of what to pay, but the systems around them that influence how they purchase,” she added.
On the e-commerce platform TikTok Shop alone, where more than half (55%) of rural social media users buy, all surveyed respondents preferred cash-on-delivery over online payments.
“Trust is very important as a value to them, so the structure has to make them feel secure that it’s worth using this new system,” Ms. Tiu said. “You have to prove to me that I will be safe and my family’s money will be safe, everything will be secure.”
Beyond security, technological infrastructure also plays a key role in promoting online payment in rural areas as they continue to adopt digital platforms.
“Our study helps show that rural consumers are already phone-first,” Mr. Carlos said. “We still see that what’s important for them is when we need to be online, the signal is there, that the infrastructure is there.”
“That would help continuously drive or build up digital adoption, not just from an online payment lens but from the entire digital growth ecosystem,” he added.
Nearly 92% of rural consumers have internet access at home, and 97.9% use mobile phones to browse and discover new products.
“With this phone-first digital adoption behavior, we see that apps are really the front door for brand discovery,” Mr. Carlos said. “Whether it’s Messenger, whether it’s Facebook, whether it’s TikTok, this is very important to communicate, to socialize, and to stream.”
The study showed that 46% or 14.4 million rural consumers are Gen Z, or aged 15 to 30, and 30% or 9.5 million are Millennials, or aged 31 to 45.
“Eventually as these younger rural consumers grow older, then that’s where the digital adoption and hopefully the entire ecosystem of digital behavior among rural Filipinos becomes up to par maybe with how we see it or how we behave in urban areas,” he added.
The fieldwork for the 2026 Philippine Hyperlocal Study: the Rural Consumer You Think You Know was conducted from March to May 2026 across 10 regions, with 1,100 respondents aged 15 to 60 years old from all income classes. — Almira Louise S. Martinez
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