TELECOMMUNICATIONS company (telco) Smart Communications Inc. has partnered with Döhle Seafront Crewing Manila Inc. (DSC Manila) on an online shopping platform.
The platform targets seamen who want to buy goods and send these to their families in the Philippines.
According to DSC Manila President Iris V. Baguilat, the platform targets 5,000 seamen the manning company recruited.
Voyager Innovations Inc. (VII) COO Jose Benjamin S. Fernandez claims the platform is secure.
VII and fellow Smart subsidiary Smart e-Money Inc. (SMI) completes the triumvirate in this online shopping platform.
According to a statement, the DSC Manila-recruited seamen and their families would be required to have a SMI account. Sans citing fees, the company said the seamen and their families must have a cash card linked to a mobile phone menu. DSC Manila-seamen can place an order whenever they have access to the Internet while docked at port or on board the ship.
Seamen in the DSC Manila payroll would now receive their salary through the SMI account. The account can also be used for online payments and in terminals accepting MasterCard. They can also transfer funds to remittance recipients in the Philippines through the card.
Smart’s move to offer online shopping comes as the International Data Corp. (IDC) said organizations in the Philippines will magnify the power of the Third Platform technologies by integrating them.
“Industries that will change the quickest will be those that are selling direct to consumers, such as retail [in which omni-channel initiatives will combine social, mobile, and Big Data technologies], banking [in which use cases of location intelligence and mobile technologies will enhance capabilities in precision marketing], and utilities [in which smart meters will rely on Big Data, cloud and mobile technologies],” IDC said in a statement in July.
(With reports from Rizal Raoul Reyes)