EasyPay – The New Payment Ecosystem

EasyPaisa today officially announced the launch of “EasyPay”, the complete payment ecosystem, at Pearl Continental Hotel Karachi. Using just your phone, you can do online shopping at major online stores of Pakistan and even make payments via NFC at retail stores (pilot testing in Islamabad).

What is EasyPay?

EasyPay is an end-to-end payment solution that provides a comprehensive platform for digital payments. It uses EasyPaisa account through Telenor sim for direct payments, completely free, and can also be used through 65,000 EasyPaisa agents across Pakistan. It is also integrated with MasterCard and VISA, allowing you to use your credit card to buy products and make payments.

How does it work?

EasyPay uses USSD technology for secure payments, just like EasyPaisa, and is a holistic payment ecosystem. To address online payments, EasyPay provides three options to customers:

1) EasyPaisa Account: If you have an EasyPaisa account, you can go to online store (with EasyPay option) and do your shopping. At the end of your shopping click the button “Checkout with EasyPay” and on the next screen select the option “Pay via EasyPaisa Mobile Account”. On the next screen enter your mobile number and email address (on which your EasyPaisa account is registered) and you will receive a notification on your mobile phone for online payment. Confirm the payment and enter your security pin, and  your transaction will be successful.

2) EasyPaisa Shop: Once you complete your online shopping, click “Checkout with EasyPay” and on the next screen select “Pay at EasyPay Shop”. On the next screen fill out your mobile number and email address, a token number will be generated against your order which you will receive on both email and mobile. Go to the nearest EasyPaisa shop and the agent will process the payment using that token number.

3) Credit Card: Once you complete your online shopping, click “Checkout with EasyPay” and on the next screen select “Pay via Visa/MasterCard”. On the next screen fill out the details of your credit card. As soon as the payment is verified, you will receive confirmation on your mobile phone.

The following video about Credit Card payment will shed more light on the payment process:

EasyPay video by f576890875

How will it benefit the end consumer?

EasyPay brings convenience of buying from your home, without worrying about payment hassles or Cash-on-Delivery challenges. It uses your mobile phone for payment confirmation, the credit card process is secure through Visa and MasterCard stringent security checks and it opens doors for further innovation in the mobile payments industry.

Most customers buying online rely on Cash-on-Delivery. The main advantage is convenience, checking of product before purchase and less chances of fraud (such as credit card). This method became the primary choice for customers because of lack of payment options and lack of trust on sellers (online merchants/websites) to use credit cards.

This trend has saw tremendous change with the emergence and growth of portals such as Homeshopping, Tohfay and Online Bazaar. Buyers are now even willing to use credit cards to buy products from these websites. This change can be further pushed into payment methods where Cash-on-Delivery can be slowly replaced with digital payments.

The overall EasyPay advantages are:

• Cash-on-Delivery, via courier services, is available in 250 cities. EasyPay is available in 850 cities
• Seller can pass on the Cash-on-Delivery expense as discount to the customer, lowering the price of the product
• 65,000 EasyPaisa agents across the country that can process EasyPay payments
• Can be used for retail payments
• Instant settlement in case of payment via EasyPaisa account
• Instant payment reversal for EasyPaisa account based on return policy
• Overnight settlement for EasyPaisa shop payment and 3 days settlement for credit card payment
• EasyPaisa already engaged in P2G and G2P payments, such as traffic fine payment in KPK, Zakat disbursement in Punjab and funds disbursement to female school students in Sindh. EasyPay can take it to next level such as micro treasury bills and e-prize bonds (currently under discussion with government)

Only online payments?

EasyPay is also into retail payments. The pilot testing is going on in Islamabad where various merchants have been provided with relevant training and material. Using an NFC tag (that will identify your EasyPaisa account) you can make payment at the merchant’s shop.

The following video demonstrates the process:

EasyPay use at retail using NFC Tag by f576890875

Benefits to the merchants/sellers?

• EasyPaisa actively promoting its partners
• No joining fee
• No hidden costs
• Simple website integration process to show EasyPay option
• About 15 days process to activate merchant account at Tameer Microfinance Bank and EasyPaisa merchant account
• 1%, 2% and 3% per transaction fee from EasyPaisa, EasyPaisa Shop and Credit Card payments respectively
• Merchant/retailer of any size can join, even a “Pan Shop”
• No minimum transaction volume
• Comprehensive reporting and analytic tools for merchants with store-wise breakdown and details high volume transactions
• Instant settlement, overnight settlement and 3 days settlement in case of payments via EasyPaisa account, EasyPaisa shop and credit card respectively. No longer locking of capital for 15 to 30 days under current settlement mechanisms with courier services
• Plugins/extensions for easy integration with WordPress, OpenCart and Magento
• Templates for web stores available for those with no web portal
• 750,000 transactions each day, 15 million every month
• 1 million EasyPaisa accounts being activated every month
• Based on number of accounts, EasyPaisa is the third largest bank of Pakistan
• Basic EasyPaisa account has 50,000 limit, Over-the-counter/EasyPaisa shop and Credit Card have no such limits (except those they inherently have, such as credit card limit cap by the bank)

Future Possibilities?

Digital payments can leap frog with a stable and mature payment ecosystem. Pakistan already is far ahead in mobile payments even from developed countries and it can further enhance economic growth. From domestic remittance, inter-bank funds transfer and mobile-to-mobile payments that are already in use, EasyPay can open doors to e-commerce boom, increase in the use of digital payments, reduce cash circulation in the economy (helping in controlling inflation), bring unused cash into digital payments, improve inventory turnover rate, reduce locking down of capital due to long settlement periods, reduce costs of products and services, trigger innovative online services for general as well as niche markets and make payments even more convenient as the ecosystem matures with time.