During the past 6-7 years, Pakistanis have started claiming their share of e-commerce. Starting from freelancing at e-lance (rebranded as Upwork) and other such channels, enterprising Pakistanis have begun testing e-commerce waters. ‘Make Money online,’ these three words have changed the thinking of an entire generation about earning a living. Young people are starting businesses, setting up online shops and trying to reach out to the international customers. Do you know one of the biggest hurdles faced by entrepreneurs in Pakistan? Accepting international payments!
What is Easypaisa?
A number of telecom companies have launched branchless banking in collaboration with banks. Telenor’s easypaisa is perhaps one of the most used services in Pakistan. Telenor has recently launched an online payment (Easypay) solution to address this growing need. Easypay is a comprehensive online payment solution, which offers MasterCard Payment Gateway Services in collaboration with the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB). This is the third significant payment solution offered by Telenor; Easypaisa Mobile Accounts and token payments at Easypaisa Shops are the other two modes.
“This collaboration is a significant step towards directly contributing to the economic development of Pakistan by providing a secure and customized solution for online trade. E-commerce will ideally favor women entrepreneurs in Pakistan; working from home and supporting their families. Through Easypay Online Payments, Easypaisa will be enhancing customers’ experience and bridging gaps in the industry,” said Nadeem Hussain, Founder, President and CEO Tameer Microfinance Bank.
Credit payments are an integral part of commerce today, especially when selling online. There is a growing population of freelancers and online businesses that are selling services to a global clientele and need convenient, fast and secure modes to accept payments. On the other hand, people are also getting used to the idea of making online purchases. However, due to a lack of available payment modes, particularly globally accepted credit and debit cards, making online purchases has been a privilege only for a few.
Easypay addresses this need by creating a way to manage all online, multi-branded, credit and debit card transactions on behalf of its clients. The customers can use any locally or internationally issued credit or debit card. The Easypay system maintains confidentiality of the consumers’ financial information. The information provided by the cardholder is processed on a secure payment page without sharing customer details with the merchant.
What About the People Who Don’t Own Payment Cards?
Despite a growing consumer base for payment cards, there is still a huge population of consumers who don’t own a card. For such people, there is an option of paying through Easypaisa Mobile Account or by generating an Easypay token, which is payable at any of the Easypaisa shops across the country. There are currently around 70,000 Easypaisa shops in the country.
Easypay is quickly gaining traction among Pakistan’s large e-commerce store such as Daraz.pk, homeshopping.pk, jovago.com, pakwheels.com, bookme.pk, onlinebazaar.pk and dealtoday.pk, etc.
Mr. Yahya Khan, Chief Financial Services Officer, Telenor Pakistan is excited and optimistic about this new initiative. He said, “Many E-commerce merchants have already signed up with us, with dozens more in the integration process offering exciting discounts for the customers on choosing Easypay as a mode of payment online. We are very happy to have MCB Bank as our partner in enabling the credit/debit card processing functionality. Partnering with MasterCard and using its Payment Gateway Services – an industry leading, global payment platform is a significant step towards customer ease. With convenient, secure and instant payments in place, Pakistan’s e-commerce industry is truly about to reach critical mass.”
With the heightened interest in and support of entrepreneurship in Pakistan, particularly in the e-commerce domain, we should expect to see more such initiatives to facilitate the financial transactions associated with these businesses.
