Apps

Grab kickstarts growth of digital economy in the Philippines

Here’s how Grab can help small businesses sell more

Published

July 3, 2020

MJ Jucutan

For almost a decade, Grab affixed itself as a staple in Filipinos’ lives. The ride-hailing app’s advent revolutionized mobility in the Philippines, making living in the metro relatively convenient.

In 2020, Grab takes things a step further, launching Small Business Booster Program. Moreover, the company partnered with the Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism, and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Grab is aiming to support local businesses in their transition to a growing digital economy. It seeks to bridge the gap between MSMEs and consumers relying on digital-based services. Furthermore, it kickstarted initiatives that are accessible to small business owners — particularly mom-and-pops or independent, family-owned businesses.

Transitioning to digital services

“Small, independent businesses are the backbone of our economy,” according to Grab Philippines Brian Cu.

Believing that supporting government initiatives will help these businesses rejuvenate the economy amid the pandemic, the Small Business Booster Program strives to provide digital support to businesses, such as GrabMerchant.

This all-in-one platform helps business owners augment their customer base efficiently. Some features include Insights — providing analytics to a merchant’s sales, marketing campaigns, and its customers’ profile and buying behavior.

There’s also an ads creation tool, which allows merchant-partners to create their own advertisements and track performance in Grab’s platform.

GrabMerchant is available to existing Grab merchant-partners as an app. A web portal is already in the works, which will roll out by the end of August 2020. Currently, there are over 78,000 merchant-partners onboarded in the Grab app across Southeast Asia.

In the Philippines, Grab recorded almost 12,000 merchants between March and June 2020, with small businesses seeing at least 57 percent growth in their online revenues. Interested merchants can sign up through this link.

Photo by Grab Philippines

Free, personalized ads

Aside from GrabMerchant’s Ads creation tool, Grab is committed to supporting Filipino merchants with advertising solutions. Most merchant-partners saw up to 300 percent return on ad spend, after placing an ad on GrabFood’s homepage.

Through its “Homegrown Heroes” initiative, Grab will create personalized ads for over 1,000 merchant-partners, featuring their businesses for five weeks on the most prominent spaces within the app. Costs and resources required to produce materials will be covered by Grab.

An easy way to receive payments

If you’re a social seller, take advantage of Grab’s Offline to Online (O2O) Merchant Support Program. Businesses with no online presence can set up their online stores, and utilize an integrated GrabPay checkout for virtual payments through a landing page on Grab.com.

Since the lockdown, people turned to social selling for sustenance. However, online selling plies with tricky payment methods. Grab aims to ease purchasing and receiving payments through its Remote GrabPay link solution, where sellers can hand out URLs to their customers.

These links will allow customers to make direct payments from their GrabPay Wallet, which sellers receive easily. Access the service through this link.

Connecting rural entrepreneurs

Grab is also leveraging its leadership in technology and innovation to help expand livelihood opportunities to Filipino farmers across the country.

It has been actively working with local governments in helping traditional ecosystems maintain their presence in a growing digital economy. Together with the Department of Agriculture’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita program and the Department of Tourism’s Philippine Harvest Initiative, Grab seeks to create an avenue for Filipino farmers to earn through the Grab platform. More importantly, their fresh produce will be delivered to customers across Metro Manila.

To learn more about Grab’s response in the COVID-19 impact, check their social report, Grab for Good through this link.

Apps

New X users must pay a dollar per year to post and reply

Rolling out globally now

Published

April 16, 2024

Luigi Leonardo

New users on X might soon face a tough time on the platform. The social media website will likely start charging new accounts a small fee for the right to post on the platform.

Now, the fee isn’t a new one. Almost six months ago, the company tested the paid system in New Zealand and the Philippines. New users in those countries had to pay a dollar per year for the ability to post and reply to content.

As spotted by X Daily News on the same platform, the company might be ready to take the experiment to a larger market. New text strings have shown that the policy is rolling out worldwide.

SPECULATION: X might be expanding its policy to charge new users before they reply/like/bookmark a post https://t.co/odqeyeiHBx pic.twitter.com/EU71qlwQ0D

— X Daily News (@xDaily) April 15, 2024

The policy is designed to combat a wave of bots appearing on the platform. By preventing new accounts from creating posts, X hopes to stave off the standard behavior of bots these days. You might have noticed them as OnlyFans creators in unrelated posts, peddling NSFW content on their bio.

Though the global rollout was only just spotted, owner Elon Musk has seemingly confirmed the change. Replying to X Daily News, Musk says that it is “the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots.” He says that the current breed of bots can easily bypass simple checks these days.

Apps

Disney+ might get always-on channels similar to cable TV

Featuring content from Marvel, Star Wars, and classic Disney

Published

April 16, 2024

Luigi Leonardo

The burden of choice on streaming platforms is real. If you’re like us, you’ve spent hours just mindlessly scrolling through titles on Netflix or Disney+ without watching anything. Netflix, at least, has a Play Something button to fight off that irresistible urge. Now, Disney+ is reportedly trying something different: always-on channels.

If you already cut cable from your lives, you’re likely missing traditional channels or networks that have pre-determined programming. It was a flawed system that eventually ended up with mediocre content and a downpour of ads. However, cable did allow us to keep watching without deciding what comes next.

Now, according to The Information, Disney+ is working on adding those channels to its streaming service. Naturally, these channels will include content from the platform’s library such as Marvel, Star Wars, and its list of classic animated films.

Strangely, the reported feature might still have ads in between programs. Though the addition of ads does mean a better similarity with real television, users still have to be paying subscribers to access the channels. Even if you’re already paying for Disney+, you might still get hit with ads.

Disney has not confirmed the reports yet. The platform might launch a version of the feature outside of the scope included in this report. It’s also unknown when these always-on channels will launch.

Apps

Google might offer satellite connectivity soon

Starting with the Pixel 9 series

Published

April 15, 2024

Luigi Leonardo

A few years ago, Apple unleashed one of the most interesting features for the iPhone today: Emergency SOS. Designed for those who like their fair bit of the outdoors, Emergency SOS allows users to contact emergency services without network coverage. Other manufacturers, however, are struggling to adopt the same feature. Now, Google might soon join Apple in providing satellite connectivity for its users.

Despite the convenience, satellite connectivity hasn’t taken off as much as the industry expected it to. For one, a network of satellites isn’t the easiest thing to maintain. Apple is still currently offering its services for free, a gamble that may or may not pay off. Now, the iPhone maker won’t be alone.

According to Android Authority, Google might start offering the same service to Pixel 9 users. Starting with this year’s upcoming flagship, the company is reportedly teaming up with T-Mobile to create satellite connectivity for its users. The telecommunications network is teaming up with SpaceX for the feature.

The same report describes how the feature might work. Once activated, the feature will ask users of their situation: is everyone breathing, are people trapped, are weapons involved, among others. The phone will then relay this information to emergency authorities for a rapid response.

Unfortunately, pricing remains a mystery. While Apple is still offering its satellite connectivity for free, other brands might put the burden of cost on the end user. Hopefully, they won’t, but a paid version is unfortunately expected at this point.