When someone says Greenhills, people instantly think of tiangges, apparel stores, and pearl accessories, making it one of the most notable malls in the country.
Its popularity has been maintained throughout the decades, with the help of good management, and constantly embracing innovation. And it’s this spirit of embracing innovation that will soon transform the whole area into a cashless shopping center.
Greenhills is a 16-hectare mixed-use in the heart of San Juan, Metro Manila that houses over 2,000 tenants, a big chunk of which are small, standalone businesses. Aside from tiangges and apparel, it’s also the go-to place for a great selection of dining places, and doing groceries at the ever-popular Unimart supermarket.
Unknown to consumers, one of the daily challenges of many of the tenants in the complex are breaking bills.
To solve this, the managing company behind Greenhills, Ortigas & Co., have initially started deploying QR code payment solutions to its tenants at Shoppesville and at V-Mall through GCash, the #1 mobile wallet provider in the Philippines. The same is equipping merchants with their unique QR code ID to be able to accept payments from customers with the GCash App.
GCash’s Chief Commercial Officer for Payments JM Aujero (left) and Ortigas Malls Head of Leasing Cathy Duenas (right) doing an inaugural ribbon cutting at Shoppesville
With GCash QR, both customers and merchants alike won’t have to think of paying big bills or in coins, as exact payment can be inputted in the app. A customer just needs to “scan” a merchant’s QR code using their smartphone’s camera with the GCash App, enter the amount to be paid, and confirm the payment. The transaction will be done within seconds, and both parties will receive an SMS acknowledging the payment.
“Greenhills has been around for a few decades, and is already a part of the Filipino’s life, so we’re constantly striving to improve; we’ve continued to redevelop the whole area to serve mallgoers and patrons better,” said Cathy Duenas, Head of Leasing of Ortigas Malls.
“Part of this improvement is not only facilities-wise, but also improving the experience of our tenants. We think that them being able to accept cashless payments via GCash QR will bring more convenient and more efficient transactions. We’re looking forward to 100% of Greenhills being able to accept cashless payments,” she added. Ortigas Malls is under Ortigas & Co.
QR code payments are not a new concept: Ant Financial’s Alipay App has 1B users in China, and are still growing day-by-day. The technology is being used by everyday people, from fruit vendors, taxi drivers, coffee shops, and even by popular Western fastfood restaurants.
“GCash’s vision is to have a cashless society leading to finance for all. A part of this means being able to settle transactions with just your mobile phone. GCash President and CEO Anthony Thomas said. “We’re very glad to support Greenhills’ drive towards cashless payments, and we’re looking forward to enabling more locations of this organization,” he added.
Getting a GCash account is easy. Customers should just download the GCash App for free from the App Store or from Google Play and sign up for an account. The GCash App is available for all mobile susbcribers. Alternatively, they can look for @gcashofficial on Messenger and sign up.
To fund their GCash account, a user can visit over 16,000 GCash partner outlets nationwide, and tell the cashier to cash-in to their GCash account. Cashing-in to a GCash account is free.
