The total value of purchases of goods and services made using debit and credit cards by Guatemalan businessmen during 2011 was 18% more than those of 2010.
The information comes from the Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE) report which looks at payments around the world and is conducted yearly by the payment technology company Visa.
Visa has announced it will begin in Guatemala the process of eliminating magnetic stripe cards and replacing them with ones that have chips.
Guatemalan financial institutions are working on building the infrastructure necessary to meet this new technology, said the executive director of Visa Central America, Roger Sanchez. The delivery of the first chip card is scheduled for early next year.
Although in Colombia, Venezuela and Peru use of pre paid cards is widespread in Central America they are only in the initial stages of implementation.
Having successfully piloted in South America, MasterCard and Visa intend to introduce and expand the use of the prepaid card in Panama, where the use of this product is in an early stage, as well as the rest of Central America.
From the second quarter the company will introduce a project to provide financial services through cell phones.
Brayan Peralta, CEO of remittance products for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, said that through this service the benefits of the financial system will be extended for reciept of remittances.
Visa has launched an advertising campaign fostering the usage of debit cards in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Usage of Visa debit cards has grown 33% in the last five years. To take advantage of this movement, Visa has launched a new advertising campaign focused specifically on debit cards, called "yo paGO" ("I PAY"). It is part of its "More people GO with Visa" campaign, and aims to tell consumers the benefits of using debit cards over cash.
It is no longer just advertising. Marketing managers must operate in an integrated manner and demonstrate return on investment for every dollar they spend.
Many examples are showing that one of the first budgets to be trimmed in these times of crisis, is marketing.
Visa Inc. presented its new Visa payWave technology yesterday. payWave allows customers to use their cell phone as a credit card.
Guatemala will be the first country in Latin America to use this technology as a part of a pilot program with the Industrial Bank, Banco Uno Bank and Visanet.
Internet sales have increased in Guatemala, although only 3.3% of the populations makes purchases online.
Guatemalan internet users spend $58 million shopping online in 2007, according to a study on e-commerce (B2C) in Latin America presented by VISA and carried out by América Economía Intelligence.
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