Instant payment begins to be used more by Brazilians to pay for purchases
On November 16, 2021, Pix completed one year in operation. And it has been very successful: since March, this electronic and instant payment method has been used more than TEDs, DOCs and transfers, and by the end of October it had 112.6 million users, who made 1.18 billion transactions that way, according to the Central Bank.
In its first year of life, Pix was mainly used in transactions between individuals, which represent 75% of total transactions. But its use to pay companies grew: it went from 5% in November 2020 to 16% in October 2021.
iFood, for example, started receiving payments with Pix in tests carried out in March 2021, in restaurants in Campinas (SP) and Curitiba (PR) – and since May it has expanded the radius to cover the whole of Brazil. “In addition to being a new form of payment, Pix brought new customers who did not have access to a credit card”, says Julia Barroso, vice president of fintech at iFood. “Today, it is among the most chosen payment options, and adoption continues to grow.”
According to Barroso, the use of Pix was very important so that iFood could reach a portion of the population that did not have access to debit and credit cards. “Due to the means of authentication and online payment confirmation, it proved to be a highly reliable and secure resource”, he adds. “To date, we have not registered any cases of fraud involving Pix.”
iFood implemented Pix as a key, with a dynamic “copy and paste” button and an expiration period of five minutes from the moment the order is closed. To pay with Pix in the iFood app, simply select this option in the app, copy the generated code, enter the bank using your key and complete the transaction by pasting the code in the “QR code or QR Code” field.
To make the transaction even easier, iFood partnered with Itaú to complete payment for an order without leaving the app. It works like this: after placing the order and choosing Pix as the payment method, the customer is automatically directed to the bank app, enters the password and completes the purchase.
What's new for 2022
For the Central Bank, the biggest advantages of Pix are its speed (as settlement is done in real time), the practicality of paying by accessing the contact list or a QR Code, without the need for machines, cards or banknotes, and the low cost of acceptance by the recipient (due to its structure having fewer intermediaries).
More news should appear on Pix in its second year of life. In 2022, new services may come into force, such as automatic debit and contactless payment. Before that, from November 29, 2021, Pix Saque and Pix Troco will start operating.
The first will allow consumers to withdraw cash from stores, bakeries, markets, pharmacies and other commercial establishments at their own ATMs or shared terminals. In the second, the consumer will be able to withdraw the amount associated with a purchase in the form of change – buying a product worth R$ 60 and paying R$ 100 to receive, in cash, R$ 40 in “change”.
