In the meantime, group-buying sites are getting bigger and bigger.  And when the country’s largest retailer, the SM Group, joins the fray, you know that the industry has already gone mainstream.  SM Advantage Card (SMAC) holders can now buy the latest deals from SM online at www.smacdeals.com using Dragonpay.

Sept 30, 2011 (Manila, Philippines) — Customers buying from Dragonpay-affiliated merchants can now make their payments at any of SM’s 200+ retail establishments nationwide.  Just look for the SM Payment Counter at any of these retail outlets — SM Department Store, SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, and Savemore Market.  SM Payment Counters are open 7-days a week to accept payments.

AirAsia will hold 40% equity in AirAsia Inc. through AirAsia International Limited, while the remaining 60% will be held in equal partnership by Antonio O. Cojuangco Jr., Michael R Romero and Marianne B. Hontiveros.

The company incorporated for the Joint Venture to be named AirAsia Inc, will leverage on AirAsia’s strength to forge into markets in China, Korea and Japan from the Philippines and will enable it to tap into existing prime markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  These sectors will enhance AirAsia’s ASEAN regional expansion by providing AirAsia with additional routes and destinations and linking the destinations with AirAsia’s already comprehensive route network.

With 140 routes across 65 destinations and with over 400 flights daily, AirAsia connects all the capital cities of ASEAN as well as provides flights to towns hosting the region’s major heritage sites, sandy beaches, environmental landmarks and vibrant entertainment centers.  AirAsia’s regional hubs in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand not only connect the region but also link three continents – Australia, Asia and Europe.  This ease of travel also comes at a very affordable price with AirAsia’s industry-leading low, low fares – helping bond more tightly the diverse communities of ASEAN and enhancing economic growth via tourism and business activities.

In announcing the joint-venture, AirAsia’s Group CEO, Dato’ Sri Dr Tony Fernandes said that the Joint Venture reflects its confidence in the country and ASEAN.

He adds, “We are proud to extend AirAsia’s successful low-cost business model to the Philippines and make it affordable for the average Filipino to travel domestically and regionally.  The low cost airline will also offer greater access to affordable travel to the Philippines which will help the economic growth of the country as evident in other regions where AirAsia is currently serving.

He adds, “Greater connectivity across ASEAN would not only boost economic growth by providing better access to markets but also enhance links within travel, trade and tourism.  This initiative will also help bring ASEAN closer by enabling intra-ASEAN travel with AirAsia’s connectivity and route network via our strategic hubs.”

Speaking on behalf of the Filipino shareholders, Marianne Hontiveros said the setting up of AirAsia Philippines will create healthy business competition and make air travel more affordable for Filipinos.  We look forward to serving the Filipino people and to seeing local businesses benefit from the influx of more tourists.

“The establishment of AirAsia Philippines will benefit various industries such as travel and tourism, hospitality, entertainment and retail.  It will also help the Philippines achieve its Millennium Development goals by 2015, concluded Hontiveros.

As part of the Joint-Venture agreement, AirAsia will provide technical, operational and commercial support on an arms length basis to AirAsia Inc to ensure commercial, operational, branding and service level uniformity throughout AirAsia’s operations.

The Joint Venture is expected to commence operations in the 3rd quarter of 2011 subject to obtaining the relevant approvals.

AirAsia has 140 routes in destinations across ASEAN, Hong Kong, Macau, China, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Australia.  Through its low-cost long-haul affiliate AirAsia X, its guests are able to fly to even more destinations in Australia, India and China, and to Taiwan, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Iran, the UK and France.

The airline, dubbed as the “Truly Asean” airline for championing tourism in the region, has flown more than 100 million guests in less than nine years of operations as a low-cost carrier. AirAsia Berhad started flights to the Philippines in April 2005.  It currently operates two daily return flights that connect Clark to Kuala Lumpur and to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah.

Philippine travellers wishing to fly AirAsia can now pay conveniently using their online banking account through Dragonpay.

Check out some of these group-buying sites that support Dragonpay payments.

1. Metrodeal
2. CashCashPinoy
3. Pakyaw
4. CrazyDeals
5. Buyanihan
6. Cleverbuy
7. LocalRoam
8. TipidTo
9. Highlife
10. TCAT

When making online purchases using Dragonpay or Mozcom PayEasy, the buyer simply needs to choose LBC as the payment option in the corresponding dropdown list. An email instruction will be sent. The buyer prints the instruction, brings it to an LBC branch, and hands over the cash payment. The payment will be credited online the next business day and the merchant will be automatically notified online as well.

Read our blog entry for more details.

Most payment systems have a fixed transaction fee component associated with it.  Even credit cards or PayPal, which are mainly percentage-based, also normally have a fixed fee portion varying from PHP6.00 to PHP15.00.  Merchants selling low-value items,  such as digital or virtual goods, are faced with a challenge of paying these fixed fees which can account to anywhere from 50% to 100% of the total product price.

Dragonpay provides a micropayment solution for merchants selling these types of items.  By charging only 5% of the amount, merchants can sell items for as low as PHP5.00 and only pay Dragonpay PHP0.25.  This service is ideal for merchants offering social or online gaming items, or digital goods like music ala-carte.

Micropayment transactions are expected to grow exponentially in the coming years with the increasing popularity of social networking sites and massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG’s).  The advent of consumer devices such as smart phones, netbooks and tablets, like the Apple iPad, will further bring in demand for purchasing digital content such as music, games or applications.  Even payment giant, PayPal, has already announced support for micropayments.

To know more about Dragonpay micropayment services, visit our blog or email us at sales@dragonpay.ph.

This integration saves the merchant time, effort and money because he now only has to connect to a single system to reap all the benefits.  This translates to faster time-to-market, lower setup costs, and less maintenance costs down the line.  The PayEasy Cart and Mail facilities even allow merchants to go online by just copying-and-pasting some short HTML code to their webpage, or use email as a payment channel.  No complex programming integration is necessary.

Customers are the ultimate winners with this partnership as they can now easily buy for the goods or services they want, using their whatever payment facility is most convenient and available to them.  This translates to more sales for the merchant as their market expands.

Mozcom PayEasy (www.payeasy.ph) is the most comprehensive online payment system in the country today supporting all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB), BancNet and MegaLink ATM cards, PayPal, Globe G-Cash, Smart Money, Western Union,  and direct online account debit with major banks in Asia, North America, Oceania and Europe.  It was awarded Best E-Business Product of 2006 by the Center for International Trade Exposition and Mission (CITEM), the trade promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Do I need to register to use Dragonpay?

As a buyer or end-consumer, no registration with us is required.  However, you have to register with your bank for Online or Internet Banking in order to use Dragonpay’s online bank payment methods.  For Dragonpay’s offline bank payments,  having a bank account is not even necessary.  You just walk into any of the banks we support for offline banking; make a deposit payment over the counter; confirm the payment with us, and let our system automatically inform the merchant of the payment in near real-time.

If you are an online merchant (or wishes to be one) and want to accept payments through Dragonpay, you may email us at sales@dragonpay.ph.  To know more about why you might want to become a Dragonpay merchant, read our blog entry for Benefits to Online Merchants.

Which banks are currently supported?

For online banking, Dragonpay initially supports buyers with the following online banking facilities — RCBC AccessOne, Unionbank Retail Internet Banking, Unionbank EON, Chinabank Online, and EastWest Banker Net Access.  For offline banking, Dragonpay initially supports Banco de Oro (BDO) and Metrobank.