VIA GRAPHIC PLUS | MANILA, Philippines (10 November 2026) โ As Philippine retailers prepare for 11.11, 12.12 and the Christmas shopping rush, much of the focus will be on attracting customers and driving sales. But behind every major promotion lies another challenge: distinguishing legitimate spikes in payment activity from transactions that warrant closer scrutiny.
Digital payments accounted for 64.7% of retail payment transactions by volume in 2025, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). In July 2026, the BSP also urged supervised financial institutions to strengthen authentication, cyber-threat monitoring and incident response amid emerging cybersecurity risks.
Promotional campaigns can bring unfamiliar purchasing patterns, from first-time customers to sudden increases in transaction frequency. For merchants, the challenge is recognising these legitimate changes while identifying activity that may require further review.
According to Eng Sheng Guan, CEO of Fiuu, the objective during major sales events is not to apply stricter controls across every transaction, but to ensure payment risks are assessed within the context of each merchant’s business.
“Security should protect genuine customers, not become an obstacle for them,” said Eng. “During major promotional campaigns, payment decisions should be informed by transaction context so that legitimate purchases continue to move smoothly while activity that warrants closer scrutiny can be identified.”
Understanding payment risks without disrupting genuine customers
Promotional campaigns often bring legitimate changes in customer behaviour, including higher purchase volumes, new shoppers, repeat attempts and increased transaction frequency. While not every unusual or failed transaction indicates fraud, repeated failures involving different payment credentials may warrant closer review as they could signal card testing or unauthorised use of payment details.
Equally, failed payments may stem from various factors, such as issuer decisions, insufficient funds, authentication issues or temporary network interruptions. Understanding the reasons behind these failures helps merchants distinguish genuine customers from potential threats while avoiding unnecessary lost sales during peak periods.
“The first step is understanding what the payment data is telling you,” Eng explained. “A transaction pattern that appears unusual on a normal day may be entirely expected during a large promotional campaign. The goal is to distinguish genuine customer behaviour from activity that requires further attention.”
Preparing payment operations before the sales begin
Effective payment security begins well before customers reach the checkout page.
Ahead of major campaigns, merchants should review existing fraud controls and authentication settings with their payment providers, taking expected promotional activity into account. This can help ensure that legitimate changes in purchasing patterns are properly considered when assessing transactions.
During and after the campaign, merchants should monitor payment activity, including recurring declines, unusual transaction behaviour and customer enquiries, to identify potential issues, determine whether further investigation or support is needed, and improve payment processes moving forward.
Drawing on its experience supporting merchants during double-digit shopping campaigns and limited-edition product launches, Fiuu adapts applicable fraud-monitoring settings to better reflect expected purchasing behaviour. This helps merchants maintain appropriate security controls while minimising unnecessary interruptions for genuine customers.
Building customer confidence beyond the checkout
For merchants, successful payment security is ultimately measured not only by preventing suspicious transactions, but also by enabling genuine customers to complete their purchases with confidence.
As digital payments continue to grow across the Philippines, businesses will increasingly need payment processes that can respond to changing customer behaviour without creating unnecessary friction during periods of high demand.
“The objective is not to make payments more complicated,” Eng said. “It’s about applying the right controls where they matter while allowing genuine customers to complete their purchases as smoothly as possible.”
ABOUT FIUU
Established in 2005, Fiuu, formerly known as Razer Merchant Services (RMS), has grown to become one of the largest O2O (offline to online) digital payment networks in emerging markets. Fiuu recorded a Total Payment Volume (TPV) of over US$13 billion for FY2025, solidifying its position as one of the largest payment processors in Southeast Asia.ย
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