PIX has democratized access to digital business, allowing small entrepreneurs to easily receive payments from diverse consumers. The platform enables smooth payment processing, peer-to-peer transfers, and instant online transactions, transforming the Brazilian financial landscape.
Public payment infrastructure plays a vital role in promoting financial inclusion in emerging markets. In 2020, the Central Bank of Brazil (Banco Central do Brasil, or “BCB”) launched PIX, a brilliant innovation in the existing banking infrastructure. PIX opens the doorway to eCommerce, bringing more people into the online payment ecosystem.
PIX users reached 124 million in March 2022, from 40 million in November 2020. It had seen the fastest adoption curve compared to all other real-time payment systems across the globe. This system is writing a new success story for emerging markets and serving the needs of government, merchants, and individuals. Most importantly, it has fundamentally changed the way Brazil pays.
What is PIX?
PIX is an innovative real-time payment system launched by the Central Bank of Brazil. It is an innovative, practical, and secure financial system that allows transfer between bank accounts instantly. Consumers can receive and make payments at any time without intermediaries.
PIX is a state-owned payment platform focusing on five aspects:
- Financial inclusion
- Transparency
- Competition
- Sustainability
- Accessibility.
The system works 24/7 and processes all types of transactions, small or big amounts, between individuals, companies, government agencies, or any other party.
Debit or credit card details are unnecessary to process transfers or make a transaction. Users just require a “PIX key,” a unique identification code allotted to users at the time of registration. To perform transactions, the sender only needs to identify and confirm the beneficiary’s PIX key.
How Does PIX Work?
Each user needs to set up unique PIX keys to use the system. These keys represent identification codes assigned to individuals or legal entities for performing financial transactions on the platform. The user can select keys based on:
- Cell phone number
- CPF or CNPJ (individual taxpayer ID in Brazil)
- Randomly chosen key
There are certain limitations to acquiring keys. Individuals can register up to five keys, while companies can have up to 20 keys. Merchants can receive payments through registered PIX keys or the QR code method.
PIX works similarly for individuals and merchants, but the transaction cost is a major distinction. PIX is free for individual users, while merchants pay a small fee. The transaction fees may vary for receiving or making any payments, depending on the which financial institution holds the merchant’s account.
Positive Takeaways For Merchants
Brazil has great potential to lead the global e-commerce industry and the PIX payment system has opened the door for untapped digital markets worth billions.
Moreover, its demographics reflect interesting prospects, as most active users are between 20-40 years old. It presents a great opportunity for merchants to target a younger, vibrant Brazilian consumer market.
Seamless Onboarding Experience
PIX has a seamless onboarding process. Merchants share some basic details of their business, and the entire onboarding process gets completed within two weeks. Merchants then receive access to the new market and smoothly process payments with no extra integration effort required on their side.
Increase in Conversion Rate
After introducing the PIX system into the payment network, merchants have witnessed a massive growth in conversion rate. PIX increased the conversion rate in Brazil from 5% to over 12%. The growth is nearly 2.5 times, taking no major effort from merchants’ sides.
Given that PIX is growing swiftly in Brazil and has become the leading choice for making digital payments, we anticipate continued aggressive growth in conversion rates. Further, its widespread adoption benefits merchants and customers, creating a viable option for parties.
Gateway To The Biggest eCommerce Market in Latin America
Brazil is the biggest e-commerce market in Latin America, with a 30% share of the total market size in the region. From $12.6 billion in 2019, the e-commerce valuation has risen to $26 billion in 2021. In March 2022, PIX surpassed the threshold of 1500 million transactions in a single month.
Despite being a vast consumer market, before PIX, businesses failed to convert their traffic into sales.
The emergence of PIX has provided a perfect channel to access products and services online because it has eased payments processing.
It provides an opportunity for merchants to access the thriving Brazilian e-commerce market.
Fast, Simple, and Secure
PIX is a simplified payment system that is amazingly easy to use in daily life for transfers and transactions. Moreover, given its safe and secure platform, high-risk merchants, in particular, will receive immense benefits and reduce fraudulent activities.
Transactions performed through PIX are incredibly fast and take only a few seconds. Moreover, the system works 24/7, allowing users to buy goods and services at their convenience. It also offers a seamless checkout experience for customers.
Vendo and PIX – Entering the Brazilian Market
Efficient, low-cost, technical excellence, and user-friendly, Brazil’s PIX is a revolutionary invention connecting every consumer and merchant in a single payment channel. However, merchant onboarding is one of the primary hurdles for incorporating MSME in the formal economy.
Vendo is now actively connecting local and foreign merchants with the mainstream Brazilian payment system. We help them to do better business in an unexploited market.
As a leading AI-powered payment gateway with strong onboarding support, Vendo has partnered with a major payment provider in Brazil to offer PIX to our merchants. Over a course of three months, we have run a proof of concept with merchants interested in testing the PIX system.
After the successful proof of concept trial, Vendo is now soft onboarding merchants, opening the gateway to access the biggest e-commerce market in Latin America. Merchants only need to share some basic documents with us and we can begin your onboarding with PIX in less than two weeks. After that, merchants can easily access a new market with a PIX payment method.
The Bottom Line
PIX has created a favorable financial ecosystem in Brazil for people and business entities. It is likely to account for 22% of electronic payments by 2030. It is based on an open banking model, aiming to improve overall user experience, reduce transfer time, and minimize errors in the network. Given that 45% of Brazilians bought an item online in 2021, PIX clearly is the future of payment in Brazil.
Contact us if you are interested in exploring the Brazilian market for your online business?
Vendo offers comprehensive payment processing services to high risk industries, including content platforms, cam operators, and e-commerce sites. Our innovative, AI-powered tools offer merchants simple, secure, and seamless payment solutions, along with expert customer support from integration to end-user concerns. Our expert team works 24/7 to shape your vision into reality.