One of the most recent, exciting developments in the world of payments is the uptick in digital wallet usage, especially in APAC countries like The Philippines. Digital wallets combine the freedom and convenience of smartphone technology, with the security and rigour of traditional card payments.

To celebrate the roll-out of GCash as a payment option for Ezypay’s integrated software partners and their customers, we’ve compiled the top five reasons why you should consider offering GCash as a payment option for your Filipino gym or health and fitness studio.

1. GCash offers flexibility in a challenging market

One of GCash’s main competitive advantages is its ease of access, ease of use and hefty market dominance. It’s estimated that over 80% of the population have a GCash account that they use regularly – a far greater percentage than the residents with a traditional bank account. With GCash, gym members can set up recurring payments in mere seconds using just their smartphone - eliminating the need for tedious manual payment collection methods like cash or cheque. GCash also provides gym members with a greater level of security when compared to traditional card or bank transfers and means customers don’t need to remember their bank details, significantly speeding up the onboarding process. This means you can onboard new gym members far quicker than ever, freeing up your administrative staff to focus on more pressing issues.

2. GCash means less friction, minimised fraud, and a stronger cash flow

Generally, payments made with digital wallets (like Apple Wallet and Google Pay) are customer-initiated only, meaning that customers must authorise each transaction manually. While this is ideal for e-commerce, customer-initiated transactions can become frustrating when paying for subscriptions (like gym fees).

Similar to merchant-initiated transactions via a credit or debit card, GCash only requires a customer’s authorisation and payment details once before billing can commence – and then the customer can be automatically billed using the same payment details for as long as they wish to. This makes GCash an attractive payment method, especially when compared to legacy payment methods like cash and cheques – and the perfect companion to subscription-based business models, like gyms and health clubs.

Empowered by this consistent, regular revenue, businesses can far better manage their finances and forecast for the future with enough flexibility to adapt and pivot as required - without being forced to raise membership prices.

3. GCash is great for customer experience

GCash’s on-the-go payments experience makes it an excellent addition to any gym seeking to upsell private sessions, group classes or additional equipment hire. By offering GCash, your business can minimise tedious, time-consuming necessities like counting cash or bank deposits, and make one-off purchases far smoother. Since customer drop-off occurs most often during the sign-up processes, GCash’s ease of access makes it an attractive and useful tool for generating consistent, recurring revenue.

If a gym member wishes to book an additional personal training session for themselves - or participate in an intensive group workout – all they need to do is sign up for the class. The gym can then automatically invoice their member for this booking using the same payment details stored on file used to pay for monthly membership.

The customer can complete all these tasks from the comfort and security of their smartphone in seconds, requiring minimal to no intervention from staff.

4. GCash is secure and minimises fraud

GCash is a digital wallet built with security in mind, designed to minimise the chances of fraudulent transactions and payment disputes (aka chargebacks).

Alongside fundamentals like 2FA for account access, GCash also utilises facial verification and biometric fingerprint scans for additional layers of security. During sign-up, a GCash user must provide a unique mobile number, linked to a unique SIM card – making it far harder for fraudulent activity to occur. New users are also required to take a selfie scan to help prevent any unauthorised transactions and are encouraged to provide their government ID to receive a ‘fully verified’ GCash account, which unlocks additional features.

GCash’s integration capabilities allow GCash to readily integrate with payment service providers like Ezypay, allowing GCash customers to tap into additional merchant security and compliance functionality. In essence, this means that customers using GCash through Ezypay don’t need to fret about compliance or security issues and can manage their business and bill their members in confidence.

For gym owners, this means that, when a member makes a purchase with GCash, you can rest assured that the person you are doing business with is who they say they are – taking the onerous tasks associated with ‘knowing your customer’ and payments compliance off the table.

5. GCash is a salesperson’s best friend

Upselling branded merchandise, additional classes, group workouts or private personal training sessions has never been easier than with GCash at your side.

GCash is designed to process transactions as quickly and painlessly as possible, which makes it perfect for one-off impulse purchases like a sweatband, gym-branded water bottle, workout gear or a group class. Gym members can initiate and complete the payment using their smartphone, reducing a process that can take several minutes to several seconds.

With a higher transaction frequency when compared to cash, card or cheque, GCash truly is the salesperson’s best friend – a great addition to your sales team.

Ezypay is rolling out GCash to its integrated software partners and their merchants

Ezypay is the first payment facilitator in the Philippines to offer GCash for recurring payments to businesses in the health and fitness industry, such as gym owners. With 28+ years of experience managing payments in the health and fitness industry, you can count on Ezypay to find a tailored, fit-for-purpose, end-to-end member management system for your business.

If you represent a software company operating in The Philippines and would like to embed GCash into your software, please reach out to learn more about GCash.

If you run your own health and fitness business in The Philippines and would like to offer GCash as a payment option for your members get in touch today.