More than 5,400 grocery stores that sell the regulated family food basket in Cuba have carried out electronic commerce operations through the EnZona platform, for an amount of around 130,639,000 pesos.
Almost all the grocery stores in the capital have payment facilities by quick response (QR) code, and there are plans to extend this technology to the rest of the island, said Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade Miriam Pérez on the Mesa Redonda television program, Cubadebate reported.
Proceso de registro en la plataforma #EnZona, explicado paso a paso. #CubaInformatiza #CubaViva #Cuba #ComercioElectrónico #60mincin @PresidenciaCuba @LuisTFonseca @BetsyDazVelzqu2 @MiriamP04398282 @GriselAvila13 @ENZONA_BX
⬇⬇⬇https://t.co/ARG9yY9ON9— Comercio Cuba (@MincinCuba) March 22, 2021
This method allows for greater control of financial resources, avoids the handling and transfer of large amounts of cash and has made it possible to minimize the chains of non-payments to suppliers, Pérez explained.
The deputy minister explained that a total of sales worth more than 215 million pesos have been registered in wholesale and retail stores through electronic payment gateways.
As part of the computerization policy of Cuban society, in 2019 the installation of point-of-sale terminals, known as POS, began in construction materials stores, she recalled.
In the same period, the banking system started being used in the wholesale market, which is why some 317 POS were installed in commercial establishments, especially related to the purchase and sale of food products, the Ministry of Domestic Trade deputy minister explained.
She acknowledged that the plan for 2020 was to generalize this experience, but given the impossibility of acquiring all the equipment, they opted for the use of the QR Code payment technology, which began in the grocery stores, “as they are spaces with high volumes of monetary transactions.”
For his part, the director of the XETID Digital Economy Business Unit, Yunier Miguel Sánchez, commented that the Enzona platform “is managing an effectiveness of 99.9% of accepted operations; 42,000 have failed, but more than 20 million have ended well.”
He reported that so far this year, more than 8,000 commercial establishments have joined that payment gateway, present throughout the island, according to the source.
