GCash MicroMerchant App
Bringing financial tools to unbanked micro-merchants in the Philippines
Role
UX/UI Consultant
Duration
4 months
Team
PM, Full-stack dev, BFSI Product Leader
Outcomes
Delivered MVP in 4 months, cutting KYC onboarding from 14 days to 2.
Integrated NFC, QR, and offline payments, plus a bilingual chatbot (English/Tagalog) to support low-tech, remote vendors.
Context
GCash, the #1 finance super app in the Philippines, serves millions but struggled to reach micro-merchants in rural areas. Many had limited technology literacy, language barriers, and unstable internet access. This project aimed to design a low-tech, accessible solution that could still meet security and business needs.
Tools used
Figma, Figjam
JIRA
Katonic AI
Zeplin
The problem
Micro-merchants in rural Philippines, often unbanked faced three main barriers:
Language - Many spoke only Tagalog, while existing GCash apps were English-first.
Technology literacy - Limited smartphone skills made current app flows confusing.
Connectivity - Many worked in areas with unreliable or no internet.
Business concern - The existing onboarding process (KYC) also took 14 days, delaying their ability to transact and earn.
Research and findings
As the sole designer, I combined stakeholder interviews with secondary research to quickly understand user needs within tight timelines.
- Interviewed business leaders for strategic goals to be met.
- Studied the Philippines market through Desiktop Research.
- Mapped existing merchant workflows to find friction points.
Desktop Research
Key Insights
Users valued speed and simplicity over feature-rich experiences.
Offline functionality was essential for transaction reliability.
A bilingual interface and chatbot could reduce confusion.
Automating document checks could drastically shorten KYC time.
Service Design Diagram of the workflow
Gcash Micro-merchant app Homepage
Some reusable components from the Design system
Final Takeaways
The app has been delivered to the client within 4 months and is now being tested and developed further. Some of the takeaways form the project were,
It is very important to work closely with developers and managers to understand the feasibility of the project.
Working in Agile and sending out small deliverables and iterating them again after testing is necessary for the success.
Accessibility is important from the start of the research.
Role
UX/UI Consultant
Duration
4 months
Team
PM, Full-stack dev, BFSI Product Leader
Outcomes
Delivered MVP in 4 months, cutting KYC onboarding from 14 days to 2. Integrated NFC, QR, and offline payments, plus a bilingual chatbot (English/Tagalog) to support low-tech, remote vendors.
GCash MicroMerchant App
Bringing financial tools to unbanked micro-merchants in the Philippines
Context
GCash, the #1 finance super app in the Philippines, serves millions but struggled to reach micro-merchants in rural areas. Many had limited technology literacy, language barriers, and unstable internet access. This project aimed to design a low-tech, accessible solution that could still meet security and business needs.
The problem
Micro-merchants in rural Philippines — often unbanked — faced three main barriers:
Language - Many spoke only Tagalog, while existing GCash apps were English-first.
Technology literacy - Limited smartphone skills made current app flows confusing.
Connectivity - Many worked in areas with unreliable or no internet.
The existing onboarding process (KYC) also took 14 days, delaying their ability to transact and earn.
Research and findings
As the sole designer, I combined stakeholder interviews with secondary research to quickly understand user needs within tight timelines.
- Interviewed business leaders for strategic goals.
- Engaged B2B clients and customers for direct insights.
- Mapped existing merchant workflows to find friction points.
Figma, Figjam
JIRA
Katonic AI
Zeplin
Tools used
Users valued speed and simplicity over feature-rich experiences.
Offline functionality was essential for transaction reliability.
A bilingual interface and chatbot could reduce confusion.
Automating document checks could drastically shorten KYC time.
Key Insights
The app has been delivered to the client within 4 months and is now being tested and developed further. Some of the takeaways form the project were,
It is very important to work closely with developers and managers to understand the feasibility of the project.
Working in Agile and sending out small deliverables and iterating them again after testing is necessary for the success.
Accessibility is important from the start of the research.
Final Takeaways