Small and Medium Sized
Business Do Not Trust
Electronic Payment
Solutions
Although Costa Rica is
advanced in its systems
of electronic payments,
a recent study by the
Perspectivas de las
Pymes en América Latina,
shows that 91% of small
and medium sized
businesses prefer to pay
their bills by cheque or
cash and do not trust
electronic payments.
The study was presented
by Visa International
and the Nielsen Company,
that looked at
electronic payment
systems in various Latin
American and Caribbean
countries, such as
Argentina, Brazil,
Chile, Colombia, Mexico,
Peru, the Dominican
Republic and Costa Rica.
In Costa Rica the study
focused on owners of
small to medium
businesses known PYMES
or Pequeñas y Medianas
Empresas, which revealed
that the majority see
barriers and lack of
knowledge when it comes
to using electronic
payment solutions.
The general perception
is that credit is
difficult to obtain and
utilizing credit card
payments is not an
option.
"In terms of payment
methods, 91% of the
PYMES use an inefficient
form of payment like
using cash or cheques to
pay for their daily
expenses", said the
report.
Gabriel Bravo, client
services manager at the
Neilsen Company added
that in Costa Rica only
1% of the companies used
credit or debit cards to
make their purchases, be
it personal or
corporate.
The report indicates
that PYMES do not take
advantage of credit to
run their business, that
only 24% of the
businesses obtained
"formal" credit lines,
the majority coming from
banks, while the
majority of businesses
relied on their
suppliers for a credit
line.
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