Cebu Pacific launches an online travelmart via Takatack

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Takatack, the shopping discovery platform from Voyager Innovations has now become the eCommerce partner of Cebu Pacific, enabling Filipinos to complete the traveling experience by getting the right travel essentials.

Anyone who has ever traveled knows that booking a flight is only one part of the equation. To truly enjoy the experience one would need to prepare all the essentials for the journey. If you’re vacationing to a cold weather climate like Japan, you will want the perfect jacket, whereas if you’re going to a tropical location like Boracay, you will want the best and trendiest swimwear.

With great travel comes great...shopping

Getting the right clothes is just one example of how you might need to prepare for a trip. Luckily, shopping discovery platform Takatack can help you with whatever you might need. Through the partnership between Cebu Pacific (CEB) and Voyager Innovations, Takatack brings eCommerce to the airline’s website as visitors will see a banner that redirects to a special portal in Takatack.

“We’re happy to provide our guests with a hassle-free shopping experience for travel essentials through the CEB Online Shopping page on Takatack.com,” says Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific Vice President for Marketing and Distribution.

The CEB Online Shopping portal in Takatack carries everything you might need for your next trip with categories that address the typical traveler’s needs including travel essentials in Change Time Zones, Not Comfort Zones; luggage and bags in Bags are Packed, I’m Ready to Go; and pet travel items in When Pets Fly.

Each of these categories offers amazing deals on products that will make your traveling experience a delight. For example, Traveling, Music to My Ears has headphones of every shape and size, so that you can comfortably listen to your favorite artists every leg of your journey, while Ahead of the Pack(ing) provides a selection of organizers that make things easier to store, and much more importantly, find.

Aggregating these disparate categories into a single portal makes it easier to plan your next trip, as Rebecca Ricalde, the Assistant Vice President for Digital Commerce of Voyager Innovations, explained.

“Most online marketplaces are organized into product categories. If you’re planning a trip, this means you’ll have to scour different corners of a website to even begin to find what you want. With Takatack’s new CEB Online Shopping portal, you can quickly choose the items that you need in a single, easy-to-use interface,” Ricalde said, adding that she has already bought items from several of the categories, including Traveling, Music to My Ears, When Pets Fly, and Ahead of the Pack(ing) - in anticipation of her next trip to Palawan.

The Philippines like never before

The partnership between Takatack and CEB represents a powerful one-two punch.

“Flying affordably, which Cebu Pacific enables you to do, is the first important step in traveling. The next crucial part, which is often overlooked, is making sure that you have the right things - sometimes even the right things to do. As such, the portal even offers travel packages that help you experience the Philippines like never before,” said Ricalde.

“As much as we love traveling, it can be hard to plan. With Takatack’s new CEB Online Shopping portal, we want to help travelers buy the essentials and maximize their trip,” she said.

“Voyager has been enabling enterprises like Cebu Pacific to grow their business and accelerate their digital transformation by providing a robust eCommerce platform that will allow them to easily sell online,” Benjie Fernandez, COO of Voyager Innovations, said. “Cebu Pacific has been an established game-changer in the airline industry, and we are happy to be taking this flight with them as we jointly expand eCommerce opportunities in the country.”

Interested travelers can now shop for their travel essentials at https://www.takatack.com/pages/cebu-pacific.

ABOUT TAKATACK.COM

Fueled by Voyager Innovations, the digital innovations arm of Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and PLDT, Takatack.com aggregates many trusted online stores, together with the thousands of merchants who established their own online shops through the TackThis! platform.

Need a wingman on Valentine’s Day? Takatack and PayMaya can get you the best gifts in town

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With Valentine's Day just three weeks away, Filipinos may still not be sure of what to get for or how to spend that red letter day with their loved ones. Luckily for them,Voyager Innovations and PayMaya Philippines, the digital innovations units of PLDT and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), have the ultimate wingmen for them.

Shopping discovery platform Takatack and digital payments mobile app PayMaya can help Filipinos ace the two most challenging parts of this special day - gifts and dates.

Takatack has all the traditional gifts you may want to give your special someone, such as chocolates and sweets. And with over 400,000 products, the site should also be your go-to destination if you want to choose a more unique gift, such as a new camera for the budding photographer in your life or a baking set for your favorite chef.

Rebecca Ricalde, Assistant Vice President for Digital Commerce at Voyager Innovations, believes that the wide range of products at Takatack makes it the best place to choose your Valentine’s Day gift.

“Let’s face it: Gift-giving, especially on Valentine’s day, is not easy. You want to choose the right gift for your special someone, but it’s a tall task to run around a crowded mall, shuffling from store to store. With close to half a million products, Takatack makes this process easier by allowing you to find the perfect item, all just a click away,” said Ricalde.

Once you find the right gift, you can have it delivered directly to your special someone for a one-of-a-kind, doorstep surprise, which Ricalde feels is a nice touch for the occasion.

“Much of what makes Valentine’s Day exciting is anticipation. You look forward to February 14, knowing that you’ll be able to spend quality time with your special someone. Sending them a gift via Takatack communicates this excitement to them in a way that nothing else can. A gift says that you are thinking of them and are counting the hours until you can celebrate the holiday together,” she said.

Takatack also feels that romance doesn’t need to be expensive. Beginning February 1st and ending on the day of Valentine’s itself on February 14th, Takatack will offer a selection of special gifts from partner merchants that come with a discount. As these have all been curated by Takatack, customers will find it easier to choose a great gift for their special someone. The categories in this curated selection include: For Him, For Her, and Love Wins.

Takatack will also offer several other promos. From February 1 to 12, a coupon code will allow users to get 500 pesos off a minimum purchase of 2000 pesos, so long as the items are fulfilled by Takatack. From February 1 - 5 and again from February 8 to 14, a coupon code will be revealed at 2:14 each day and expire at 2:14 the next day that will give new users a one-time 15% off discount for items fulfilled by Takatack for a maximum discount of 2000 pesos.

Once you’ve ordered the perfect gifts from Takatack, you still need to actually celebrate Valentine’s day on Sunday, February 14. Unfortunately, many of the one-of-a-kind experiences you would want to share with your special someone on that day may require a credit card, and fewer than 5% of Filipinos own one. What, then, is the hopeful lover supposed to do?

For them, there is PayMaya. Launched late last year, PayMaya is a free digital payments mobile app that gives you a unique card number so that you can pay online without a credit card. 

Getting PayMaya is easy, fast, and FREE. To get your online payment details, all you need to do is download the PayMaya app, which is available on both the App Store and Google Store, and sign up with your mobile number. You are then issued a Visa card number, its expiration date, and a security code. PayMaya functions like a prepaid card - you can load it up at any 7-Eleven, SM Business Center or Robinson’s Business Center and then shop online or sign up to subscriptions wherever VISA is accepted.

In addition to serving as a free online payment app, PayMaya also offers a physical card that you can use to pay at brick-and-mortar stores wherever Visa is accepted.PayMaya is powered by VISA and is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to ensure all your transactions are secure.

You could, for example, take your Valentine’s Day date to watch a concert that you booked on TicketWorld, before ending the evening at your home, ordering delivery from foodpanda and watching a romantic comedy on recent Philippine arrival, Netflix.

Of course, you could splurge even further and choose to book seats on Philippine airlines and a stay at an exotic AirBNB in another city or country even, all courtesy of PayMaya. Now how’s that for a Valentine’s day to remember?

New Beginnings for 2016 Hack your way to Takatack.com, create DIY-projects for New Year

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Among the most common New Year’s resolutions are getting healthier, traveling more, organizing better, and spending more time with family. Yet in pursuit of goals like these, people often forget how much secondary factors, such as their environment or even their wardrobe, can play into their relative success or failure.

As part of New Beginnings 2016, online shopping discovery platform Takatack.com wants Filipinos to improve their lives by “hacking” their New Year’s resolutions by turning products bought from their website into DIY-projects that can help them achieve their resolutions and increase their sense of well-being.

The five categories for New Beginnings 2016 appropriately correspond to some of people’s most common New Year’s resolutions. They are: A new version of me, Getting organized, For my family, Healthy living, and More adventures. 

DIY projects are popular in the United States, where an entire culture has sprung up dedicated to empowering the everyman to create and recreate, even with something as seemingly uncreative as Ikea furniture.

Rebecca Ricalde, Assistant Vice President for Digital Commerce at Voyager Innovations, the digital innovations arm of PLDT and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), which fuels Takatack, believes that creating DIY projects through their platform can truly help people achieve their New Year’s resolutions. 

“The old joke is that a resolution made on January first will be broken before the sun sets on the second. To prevent this, we should look at what we can most easily change around us to increase our odds of succeeding. Luckily, with all the products available on Takatack.com, we can customize our living spaces and how we present ourselves to help us accomplish our most ambitious goals,” said Ricalde, who added as way of an example the aspiring fitness buff who creates a mini-home gym in her bedroom to make it easier to exercise on a daily basis. 

Ricalde is herself an avid DIYer, and she gave her own story as an example of the Takatack.com’s potential in helping us take control of our living spaces, and in extension, our lives. According to Ricalde, she repurposed a bookshelf bought from Takatack.com into a permanent display of healthy snacks such as dried fruits at her office, which encouraged her workmates to eat healthier. She also mixed and matched clothes purchased on Takatack.com to create a stable of comfortable office outfits that made it easier to walk around and take the stairs. 

“The DIY culture is not just about building things - it’s about taking control of your lives, beginning with what matters most. By enabling Filipinos to explore changes that they can make for their living spaces as well as themselves, we hope to help them bring out their best in 2016,” said Ricalde. 

Ricalde noted that with over 500,000 products available on Takatack, there are millions of possibilities for DIY-projects - a person’s only real limitation is their imagination. 

New Beginnings 2016 began on December 28 and ends on January 15, 2016, and includes close to 50 participating merchants, such as Next Technologies, Kitsound, Superlux, Procare, Sound Magic, Ehome, Shoppiyo-Audio Technica, Airborne Technologies, Philips, Motorola, Chigo, Yoomi, Angeline Shoes, Earthly Senses Spa, Fledge Clothing, It Figures Skin Care & Body Shaping, Paris Bijoux, Tangle Teezer, Hickok Leather, Watchaholics PH, SJ Premier Enterprises, SEC Moto, and Jong Duyan. A full list of participating retailers is included below. 

Shoppers can avail of P400 discount on a P1000 minimum purchase using the promo code NEWYOU.

ABOUT TAKATACK.COM

Fueled by Voyager Innovations, Takatack.com aggregates many trusted online stores, including some that are among the largest, like the Rocket Internet-backed Zalora, together with the thousands of merchants who established their own online shops through theTackThis! platform.

Takatack.com also offers some of the top brands, including CLN-Celine, VMV Hypoallergenics, Zen Nutrients, ShopTV by the Home Shopping Network, Philips, Digits Trading, Hickok Leather Brand, Candy Corner, Happy Socks, Jaybird, Li-Ning, Marshall, and Sassa. The Takatack platform also offers emerging brands like Straightforward, Fledge Clothing, Ziya, and La Mer Collections.

ABOUT NEW BEGINNINGS 2016

Participating retailers include Angeline Shoes, Earthly Senses Spa, Fledge Clothing, Paris Bijoux, Tangle Teezer, The Shoe Cycle, Wear Vintage, Babyliss, Cogito, Hickok Leather, Shoppiyo-Brownroots, Shoppiyo-Targus, ShopTV, Evita Peroni, SJ Premier Enterprises, Artbox, OBI Baby, St. Patrick Baby, Deep Dips by Chef Arnold, Yoomi, Philips, Motorola, Chigo, Next Technologies, One Stop Shop Gadgets, Xtouch, Procare, Ehome, Shoppiyo-Electronics, Shoppiyo-Philips Earphones, Shoppiyo-Audio Technica, Airborne Technologies, Watchaholics PH, Shoppiyo-Nitecore, It Figures Skin Care & Body Shaping, Jong Duyan, Ogawa, FiiO, Kitsound, Superlux, Sound Magic, Shoppiyo-Microtex, SEC Moto, Ondit Clothing, X-Mini, MyKronoz, Casemate, PQI, and Style Compass.

PLDT, Voyager launch concierge service of social commerce platform TackThis!

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Online store creator to help more Filipino businesses go digital

Most businesses in the Philippines - large and small - recognize the potential of eCommerce, but only few are ready for the unique challenges that come with selling to customers online.

To address this gap, Voyager Innovations (Voyager), the digital unit of PLDT and Smart, together with PLDT Alpha and PLDT SME Nation, has launched today its premium concierge service for online store creator TackThis! to over a thousand partner businesses so they can quickly and efficiently build their own branded digital commerce footprint that incorporates a seamless social shopping experience for customers.

As a platform, TackThis! enables businesses to set up their online shops in just a matter of minutes. They can then “tack” their store to Facebook and other websites and the platform facilitates the customer’s entire digital commerce journey - beginning from the point of order, through the management of inventory, and ending with fulfillment and payment.

The premium concierge service aims to enable larger retailers who need a more comprehensive suite of features on top of the basic offerings of TackThis! Together with the wide array of solutions from PLDT Alpha and PLDT SME Nation, TackThis! is seen to further boost digital commerce in the country. 

“At Voyager, we believe that eCommerce is one of the building blocks of the digital economy. TackThis! is already changing eCommerce as it integrates the social shopping experience. Meanwhile, our partners can benefit from the one-stop solution that TackThis! provides, including our enhanced concierge service,” said Mitch Padua, vice president and head of digital commerce at Voyager Innovations.

“The premium concierge service gives retailers an end-to-end service that streamlines their online store requirements. This way, businesses don’t have to allocate huge resources in maintaining their online stores. TackThis! allows them to focus on what they know best: selling their products,” said Kat Luna-Abelarde, First Vice President and Head of PLDT SME Business.

The advanced features that come as a part of the concierge service include professional services for an effortless online store creation as well as hassle-free store management of logistics, payments and customer service via a team of TackThis! Ambassadors.

The concierge service also includes store marketing via placement on Takatack, the sister site of TackThis! Takatack is now the largest online shopping discovery platform that aggregates and promotes not only offerings from the thousands of merchants who have established their online shops through TackThis!, but also products from other online stores and retailers in the country including Rocket Internet-backed Zalora and Lazada.

Tackthis! has over 30,000 merchants in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines with more than 400 merchants already part of the premium Tackthis! Concierge Program - an end to end solution tailored to get retailers selling online quickly.

An industry trend analysis released by BMI Research last July estimated that 82% of all Internet users in the country or around 22 million Filipinos shop online. Retail sales account for USD207 billion but only 0.6% accounts for online retail.

The growth rate for eCommerce is high. A 2014 study by Ken Research estimates that Philippine eCommerce can expect a 101.4% annual growth rate from 2013 through 2018 due to increasingly heavier Internet usage and mobile penetration.

Out of the over one million registered businesses in the country, it is estimated that only 1% have a website. In the past, a company would have had to hire a large development and operations team to establish their digital footprint. TackThis! provides the simplicity and ease of having an online store. TackThis! aims to help businesses tap into this huge opportunity to reach more Filipinos going and shopping online. 

To know more about TackThis!, please visit: www.tackthis.com.ph/

To know more about Takatack, please visit: www.takatack.com/

Takatack and Smart eMoney celebrates Day of the Seafarer with access to cashless and convenient online shopping

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Pinoy seafarers will now be able to conveniently select, buy, and pay for gifts and have them delivered directly to their families in the Philippines through a partnership forged by Dohle Seafront Crewing (Manila), Inc. with shopping discovery platform, Takatack.

Developed by Voyager Innovations, the digital arm of PLDT and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), Takatack will provide Dohle’s seafarers with a special page that gives them access to a wide selection of gifts and products for their families as part of the Day of the Seafarer celebrations on June 25.

Spearheaded by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the Day of the Seafarer is of special importance to the Philippines given the more than 400,000 Filipino best-in-class seafarers it has produced and deployed around the world, including those provided by Dohle Seafront. 

Through this initiative with Takatack, Dohle Seafront aims provide more opportunities to their seafarers to connect to their families.

Mitch Padua, the vice president and head of product development for ecommerce at Voyager Innovations, believes that ecommerce can change the lives of our seafarers.

“Seafarers exist somewhere in between workers at home and OFWs. Sometimes, they’re docked at our ports; other times, they’re stopped over in other countries; but most of the time, they’re on the open seas. Just imagine how hard it is for them to buy gifts for their loved ones during special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries. Our Takatack page for seafarers will allow them to send their love no matter where they are,” he said. 

Dohle seafarers can order from this page whenever they are docked at port. Padua thinks that their shopping portal on Takatack will be their preferred ecommerce destination because of the variety of choices it gives them.

“Takatack is an online discovery platform, which carries many different marketplaces and brands. As such, we have more products than any other online store in the Philippines with more than 100,000. For seafarers, this means they only need to make a single stop for all their gifting needs, and they don’t have to waste time hopping from site to site,” he said.

Atty. Iris V. Baguilat, President of Döhle Seafront believes that the partnership will help connect seafarers and their families. 

“This service and all the discounts are exclusive to Döhle Seafront seafarers who can now send gifts to their loved ones back home even if they are on board,” Baguilat said. 

When placing orders on Takatack, seafarers can pay using Smart Money, which is much more convenient and safer than other traditional payment options. 

“Since credit card penetration in the Philippines is low, the vast majority of ecommerce stores have to adopt localized solutions, such as cash on delivery. By offering seafarers a Smart eMoney card, we keep each of their transactions as frictionless as possible, ensuring that they get all the efficiency that e-commerce promises,” said Lawrence Ferrer, Vice President of Smart E-Money, Inc. (SMI).