Contactless and Digital Payment Methods to Consider Under the New Normal

Almost everyone is especially cautious about handling money lately. As more and more businesses launch and even reopen, financial transactions are inevitable. But with today’s concerns about transmitting COVID, business owners and also customers are looking for cashless and contactless ways to settle payments in a safe and convenient way.

In this webinar, Allegro Beverage Corporation founder and CEO Mr. Leo de Leon talks about the importance of keeping up with the times by carefully considering digital payment alternatives under the new normal.

Allegro Beverage Corporation

According to Mr. De Leon, there are five important steps or considerations for financial transactions in our current situation of dealing with a global pandemic.

Allegro Beverage Corporation

The first thing to do is to assess your business and obtain a clear picture of your Company’s financial situation. Next, engage with employees, customers, and suppliers to find out more about how your business is doing from all sides.

The third consideration is to innovate, wherein you can develop a range of scenarios to find out which one will work the best for your type of business, introduce digital contactless payments, create new products to keep customers interested and keep your business relevant, establish gameplan with realistic goals and timeline, and of course make sure to implement safety protocols.

Another important consideration is to optimize your working capital. Businesses can do this by reducing discretionary spending or by postponing capital expenditures, collect receivables regularly, relay payments to suppliers, reduce inventory if possible, ask for concessions (think of landlords, suppliers, and banks), and outsource work as needed to reduce expenses.

The fifth consideration is to deeply understand your customers’ needs. As long as your business is addressing the public’s needs, you will stay relevant and in demand.

There are several ways to get your business up and running even if you don’t have enough funds. The most common source of capital is banks of financing companies, but according to Mr. De Leon, you can also refinance or sell your assets if needed or consider using your (or a willing family member’s) retirement fund. If money’s tight, you can also consider leasing equipment, taking an equity partner, or borrowing against your life insurance policy or even from a relative or close friend.

If you plan on dealing with banks, here are the most common requirements you need to prepare. Keep in mind that depending on your current financial status, some banks may require more documents.

1. Financial Statements and Tax Returns
2. Business Plan
3. Cash Flow Projections
4. Lease Agreement
5. Capital Requirements
6. Collateral
7. Corporation Papers
8. Credit report

Allegro Beverage Corporation

▸ Bank or Finance Company
▸ Refinance or sell your assets
▸ Retirement fund
▸ Equipment Lease
▸ Borrow Against Life Insurance policy
▸ Take an Equity Partner
▸ Borrow from Relative or friend

Allegro Beverage Corporation

▸ Financial Statements and Tax Returns
▸ Business Plan
▸ Cash Flow Projections
▸ Lease Agreement
▸ Capital requirements
▸ Collateral
▸ Corporation Papers
▸ Credit report

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Handling Cashless/Contactless Payments

Finances don’t just refer to the expenses that businesses incur during operation. More importantly, it refers to the cash inflow from sales. For your staff and customers’ safety, it is time to consider adapting a digital payment scheme or contactless payment.

GCash

In this webinar, Mr. Justin Paul Yap from GCash talks about the benefits and features of the ewallet’s “Scan-To-Pay” feature for both businesses (or merchants) and customers

GCash

GCash

GCash

If you’re not yet familiar with GCash, it is the number one e-wallet service provider in the Philippines with over 23 million users. This BSP-regulated e-money solution offers an individual financial account connected to your mobile number. Through GCash, customers can pay using their e-wallet, which they can top-up from more than 32,000 cash-in points (including major banks, shopping malls, convenience stores, and pawnshops) so they can shop online or pay their bills. GCash is also the e-wallet of choice by over 75,000 merchants, which utilizes their QR payment method. It’s also safe and convenient since all transactions are documented through SMS confirmation messages.

GCash

GCash

GCash

GCash

GCash

GCash

GCash

From a business standpoint, GCash is a great choice not just because it offers a contactless and cashless way of receiving payment. GCash is also low-cost and versatile compared to other ewallets. According to Mr. Yap, GCash’s Merchant Discount Rate (MDR, or transaction charge) is competitively placed at 2%. It also minimizes the need to handle cash for both frontliners and accounting personnel, since they offer services like bank sweeping from the merchant’s GCash account directly to their bank of choice. Using GCash for your business also opens your enterprise to more exposure through possible ads within their 20-million strong base, access to WebPay partners like PayMongo, and DragonPay (to handle electronic payments for your website), and even use of financial services like GCredit, which increases the business’ purchasing power.

GCash

GCash

Using GCash’s Scan-To-Pay method means your business will have its own unique QR code, which your customers will use to send their payments – this creates a cashless ecosystem for a smoother, safer, and more secure payment experience. This function features real-time transfer from the customer to the merchant’s GCash wallet, auto-sweeping from the merchant’s GCash wallet to the preferred bank account the next banking day (which means you don’t have to go to the bank to deposit your day’s earnings), and daily Settlement Reports (a collection/summary of transactions from the previous day) so you can stay on top of your business’ performance.

GCash

While using the QR code is an easy and convenient way to receive payments, Mr. Yap reminds current and prospective merchants to always give clear instructions for customers about how to pay and – more importantly – how to send their proof of payment so their orders will be processed.

How to Integrate GCash to Your Business

They use the term “onboarding” to refer to the process of integrating GCash as a method of payment for an enterprise. For onboarding, business owners must prepare the following

documents depending on your type of business

GCash

GCash

For inquiries and applications, interested merchants can contact GCash at IWantGCashQR@mynt.xyz or visit www.gcash.com/payment-solutions.

Cashless Salary Disbursements Made Easy

Mr. Yap also shared a new GCash Business product during the webinar: The PowerPay+ or P3. It’s a funds disbursement service that allows companies to pay out salaries, allowances, and commissions to employees’ GCash accounts.

GCash

To be an accredited P3 Partner, the business owner or assigned personnel must undergo antimoney laundering (AML) training in order to properly conduct the KYC (Know Your Customer verification) of employees on behalf of GCash. This process facilitates the opening of bulk accounts for the employees (P3 payees).

GCash

A P3 Payee account has a higher limit of P500,000 (compared to regular GCash account’s monthly limit of P100,000) and comes with a GCash MasterCard ATM card, which the payee can use to withdraw money. The account doesn’t have a minimum maintaining balance, but it does come with certain charges: P20 per ATM withdrawal and P3 per ATM balance inquiry.

GCash

P3 Partners can access the disbursement portal to keep track of disbursements and make sure payments are made in a timely manner. The disbursement fee is P5 per transaction or P20 per P3 Payee per month. The generic card is sold at P135, while co-branded ATM cards are P250 each with a minimum of 5,000 cards.

PowerPlay+ can handle several types of disbursements like Regular disbursements (like payroll or allowances) and Non-Regular (like commissions, incentives, recruitment bonuses, loans, or rewards). Soon, they will also offer Lifestyle Vouchers (like e-gift certificates, STP vouchers, or even prepaid load) and Bundles Solutions (expense management system, timekeeping, and payroll management) via P3.

For more information about PowerPlay+ and disbursements using GCash, visit www.gcashbiz.com.

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Allegro Beverage Corporation

For more information on Allegro Beverage Corp.’s products and services:

http://www.allegrobeverage.com/

https://www.facebook.com/allegrobeverage

http://instagram.com/allegrobeverage

sales@allegrobeverage.com 

+63 (917) 551 5341 

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Allegro Beverage Corporation

Grow and Pomote your Business through Social Media How to Leverage Facebook and Instagram to Boost Sales for your Business!

At the 2nd AFEX webinar, Allegro Beverage Corporation founder and CEO Mr. Leo De Leon shared his decades of expertise in the coffee industry by teaching us how to set up our very own profitable coffee shop in the midst of a global pandemic. 

With almost everyone sheltering at home and barely going out, social media has become the primary tool for customers to get more information about new products, latest offers, and news about their favorite establishments.

As more and more businesses shift towards a digital existence, how can new businesses keep up with the fast-paced demands of social media? In our latest webinar, Allegro Beverage CEO and founder Mr. Leo de Leon, Allegro marketing head Cee Tisoy, and Instagram’s marketing head for Asia Pacific Mr. Alex de Leon shared about the importance of digital marketing and how to optimize usage of social media platforms to grow and promote your own business through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Carousell, or even blogs.

Allegro Beverage Corporation (ABC) is the exclusive distributor of the finest espresso machines, brewers, coffee beans, syrups, sauces, and teas from around the world. Our customers are hotels, casinos, chain accounts, restaurants, cafes, and offices. For the past 20 years, Allegro is known for touching base with the B2B market, as time progressed, we aimed to expand our reach and capture the B2C market (the homebrewers) as well to cover a larger market share. 

Sharing their Customers their top three goals – to reach the consumers and introduce their products and equipment to household home brewers, everyone can enjoy high graded coffee beans at reasonable prices, and brand awareness.

For the past 20 years, Allegro is known for touching base with the B2B market, as time progressed, they aimed to expand their reach and capture the B2C market (the homebrewers) as well to cover a larger market share.

According to Ms. Tisoy, social media lets business owners “interact with others and share and create content through online communities”. It is also a great tool that presents “great marketing opportunities for businesses of all sizes”. Some advantages of using social media are its broad reach, it allows you to target specific groups or markets, it could be low-cost or most of the time it’s free, it’s fast and easy. The downside of social media is that it could be time-consuming (especially if you’re new to this technology), it is possible that you’ll spend some money with little or no return, negative reviews could go viral and affect your business, and sometimes legal problems could also arise from spam, copyright, and other online-based concerns.

Grow and Promote your Business through Social Media

But when it comes to starting your online presence, it is best to know your objectives. The main goal is to promote your brand name and business by attracting new customers and sharing information about your products and services. Social media could also be a way to do market research and find out what customers think of your business, as well as a bridge to build good and strong relationships with existing and new customers.

Now that you’ve determined your objectives, it is important to create your own creative content calendar and set timelines to measure the success of your posts. When it comes to social media, content is king. Your daily posts could make or break your business. It is important to create a tone or voice for your brand and keep it consistent throughout your captions and graphics, whether you post photos or videos.

Grow and Promote your Business through Social Media. With the pandemic in tow, marketers are constantly finding it more challenging to engage with the customers online.

• Current digital and Internet trends in the Philippines and how these will affect your business
• How Facebook and Instagram can help grow sales
• Digital marketing tools you can utilize to your advantage
• Best practices and digital marketing basics every marketer should know
• The disadvantages and risks of using social media platforms

Amidst this pandemic situation, Allegro Beverage decided to re-launch their Social Media sites, Facebook, and Instagram. Sharing their Customers their top three goals - to reach the consumers and introduce their products and equipment to household home brewers, everyone can enjoy high graded coffee beans at reasonable prices, and brand awareness.

Here is the must-have social media platforms, How to use Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram to grow your business.

AGENDA:

1. Digital trends int he Philippines
2. Build your online presence
3. Communicate with your customers
4. Understand your customers

Did you know that for the third year in a row, the Philippines has emerged as the social media capital of the world? A study on the state of the internet showed that an average Filipino spent almost four hours on social media every day in 2017. The Philippines was followed by Brazil and Indonesia, with an average of three hours and 39 minutes and three hours and 23 minutes, respectively.

2/3 of Facebook users across all countries surveyed say they visit the Page of a local business at least once a week.

• Create Page
• Add a cover photo
• Pages with profile pictures ad cover photos tend to get more likes and visits
• Give consumers the information they need
• Call-to-action buttons (Get Directions, Shop now, Message, Book now, Sign Up, Learn More, Call now)
• Invite people to like your page
• Create an event
• Find talent by posting a job
• Provide details about your posting

Social Media Best Practices

1. Give consumers the information they need, especially basic information like contact number, address, website, and hours of operation. You can maximize your page’s “Call-to-Action buttons” to direct customers to call the business, shop through the website, or send a message to your account.
2. Maximize features like inviting people to like your page, creating events for your business, finding talent by posting a job on Facebook where job-seekers can apply directly through Facebook, or scheduling content posts automatically through the “schedule” function on posts.
3. Have conversations with your customers on Messenger. Mr. Alex de Leon refers to this as “conversational commerce” or chat-based buying and he treats it as an important part of building your brand and generating sales. Maximize Messenger features like Instant Replies to make your page more responsive to customers. For more information about activating Instant Replies on your facebook page, click here (https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/lessons/set-up-automatedresponses).
4. For efficiency and responsiveness, manage all your communication (Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp) in just one inbox.
5. Use the “Insights” and analytics function to find out how people are interacting with your page, so you can make a better marketing strategy and a stronger content plan by knowing more about your consumer’s browsing habits within your page.
6. Tag products on your photos and posts, so customers can tap the products to redirect them to your website or Facebook Shop to encourage more sales.
7. Produce good content and post on a regular basis on all available platforms

Social and messaging platforms are often the home of e-commerce. Where e-commerce buyers primarily chat to buy.

1. 49% Social/Messaging - Within this, Facebook products represent 90% of the action.
2. 35% of E-commerce platforms
3. 16% of Brand sites

Manage all of your communication across the Facebook family in just one inbox.

Amidst this pandemic situation, Allegro decided to re-launch their Social Media sites, Facebook, and Instagram. 

See you on the 4th Webinar Series of Allegro Beverage Corporation.