With online shopping increasingly popular in Cambodia, The Post looks at how UnionPay is facilitating e-commerce among the Kingdom's tech-savvy consumers.

The appetite for online shopping is not abating among Cambodian shoppers, no matter how the economic climate appears.

Affluent and tech-savvy young shoppers continue to crowd the web, shopping for merchandise such as cosmetics, clothes, female fashion products and electronic gadgets. Ecommerce is certainly flourishing in the Kingdom.

Growing household income, social media influence on buying habits and affordable internet services combined with accessible technology has reinvented the way Cambodians think and shop.

The growing popularity of virtual shopping is set to fire up the retail industry in the Kingdom.

According to internet data website Data-Reportal, businesses have seen a significant jump in the number of digital transactions in the Kingdom as consumers embrace the convenience, ease of use and relative safety of electronic payments over the internet.

On the uptrend in the Kingdom is the use of mobile devices at work and for lifestyle connections, with virtual wallets pushing up online transactions exponentially.

No longer restricted by distance or the limitations of cash, e-commerce revenue is expected to jump 30 per cent to $168 million in 2020 compared to last year, with the number of online shoppers expected to increase 20 per cent to 4.8 million this year, according to Data-Reportal.

Facilitating this significant jump in online traffic, UnionPay is working with partners both in Cambodia and across the globe to make more e-commerce merchants available to the local population for convenient, seamless and secure online payments.

The Shanghai-based financial services corporation is working with leading card issuers, such as ABA Bank, Acleda Bank, Bank of China and Canadia Bank among others, to expand its online acceptance network.

UnionPay offers mobile and online payments covering retail, travel bookings, airline reservations and tuition payments, according to its official website.

The Chinese firm says it is accepted by more than 10 million online merchants across various industries ranging from food, gaming, grocery delivery, healthcare and retail in 200 countries globally.

In Cambodia, local firms like Bloc Delivery and Little Fashion are on its list of clients.

According to UnionPay International Southeast Asia general manager Wenhui Yang, online shopping has many advantages. It is convenient as there are no queues and shopping can be completed within minutes, he said.

“Our customers are our top priority – UnionPay aims to continuously deliver world-class quality payment solutions by actively collaborating with reputable sellers of popular goods and service providers such as Amazon, Farfetch, G2A, iHerb and many more.

“These partner merchants were carefully selected because they also share the same mission of delivering high-quality services that address concerns when buying online and bringing the benefits of convenience and safety to all our customers,” Yang said.

With UnionPay offering solutions that provide cardholder identity authentication services for credit, debit and prepay cards to reduce the risk of fraud and unauthorised transactions, shopping online is now safe and hassle-free, he added.