LBC Amps Up Digital Services for Filipino Businesses on the Move with LBC Online

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Logistics and delivery services have become the lifeline for many households and businesses especially with the stringent lockdown and those who have limited access to physical shopping spaces. The growing reliance of the general population on online delivery and services inspired LBC Express, Inc. to continue to fuel Filipino businesses by providing digital solutions to online sellers as a way to move their passions and dreams.

With the steady rise of online businesses over the last few months, LBC has launched a platform dedicated to sellers in the social sphere, LBC Online. The platform fast-tracks the business transactions by giving social sellers a tracking service for their packages and flexible collection options. LBC enables sellers through its services and with this new platform, aims to help them succeed as they continue to move their businesses forward. 

Miguel Angel A. Camahort, president of LBC, said, “LBC has always been the stronghold of generations of Filipinos when it comes to cargo and courier services and we are always ready to gear up for their changing needs. As we recover our normalcy and recuperate completely from the challenges that have forced us to rethink our normal, LBC will reinvent its way of moving, its service to bridge the distance between Filipino to Filipino. We start by introducing a safe, convenient way for Filipino online sellers to manage their business.”

By signing up for an LBC Online account, sellers get to pre-process transactions online and enjoy a number of benefits including their own dashboard that allows them to track and trace their deliveries, faster transaction for a smoother branch experience, and more flexibility in payment options that lets you collect your funds at your own convenience. 

Shipments can also be processed online to make your branch drop-off transactions easier and more convenient. Those who need transaction reports can rely on the platform’s dashboard — simply filter your transactions by date and download your reports to save time for more important matters. 

“We hope that through LBC Online, we are in a way, lifting up Filipino online sellers with a platform that helps them manage their business at the comforts of their own homes,” adds Camahort. 

To sign up for LBC Online, just visit https://lbconline.lbcexpress.com/signup. 

LBC introduces more digital services

As the demand for door-to-door delivery increases, the country’s leading courier is also cutting the steps of sending parcels to any point in the country with LBC Pickup, an online booking system that allows LBC staff to get the packages directly at the home of the sender.

To also minimize the need to go to-and-fro in their local branches, LBC is enabling sending remittances from home through Instant Peso Padala (IPP) Online. With IPP Online, anyone can send money through their phones and computers, and have it claimed through thousands of LBC’s physical stores or remittance partners: Cebuana Lhuillier, MLhuillier, and Palawan Pawnshop. This service is free of transaction charges until July 5, 2020.

In view of the current situation, LBC is firm in strengthening country’s collective effort to bring the local economy off the ground. Needless to say, LBC is pioneering the next wave of services needed by the modern Filipino retailer and consumer. 

For more information on LBC’s newest services, visit www.lbcexpress.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/LBCExpress/.

ZRewards, ZALORA Team Up For Up To 25% Shopping Discount

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Shop and save with ZALORA and ZRewards by Zeal! Enjoy up to 25% discount at ZALORA’s Big Fashion Sale which runs until July 2 by using an exclusive voucher code for ZRewards by Zeal, the newest one-stop location for awesome deals in town.

Just log on to http://www.zalora.com.ph or sign in on the ZALORA app and apply voucher code ZEALBFS upon checkout. Get 22% discount for existing customers and 25% savings for new customers for minimum spend of P2,499. Maximum discount is P1,000 per voucher which can be redeemed five times per account.

Those on a tight budget can also get more for less since the voucher code can be used to shop for bargains in ZALORA’s sale section which carries items at knockdown prices.

ZALORA is the country’s leading online fashion store with over 120,000 products- ranging from apparel, footwear, bags, accessories, to beauty essentials – coming from an ever-expanding line-up of top local and international brands. It offers shipping discounts, a host of payment methods, and free returns.

ZALORA has recently partnered with ZRewards by Zeal, a brand under 917Ventures, the largest corporate incubator in the Philippines and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe. Through the ZRewards website, users from all over the Philippines can grab hold of premium and solid offers from different companies redeemable at their favorite online shops and physical stores.

Zeal the deal and pre-register for free at https://www.zeal.ph/registration. Be the first to learn about the newest and biggest deals when the ZRewards website goes live in July.

InLife offers free life insurance to 110K essential workers

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Insular Life (InLife) will give away free insurance and hospitalization coverage to 110,000 essential workers to help secure them in case they catch the COVID-19 virus. 

Called the “Chain of Protection,” the program will be bankrolled by the Insular Foundation and will be underwritten by InLife. 

“As you know vaccines against COVID-19 have yet to be developed and yet, many of our essential workers continue to serve. We want to extend some form of insurance protection and hospital allowance while they still continue to discharge their duties to the public during the quarantine period,” said InLife Executive Chair Nina D. Aguas. 

Ms. Aguas is also the chairman of Insular Foundation. 

While viral pandemic diseases are exclusions in a standard life insurance policy, InLife created Chain of Protection specifically for this purpose, to assist the vulnerable workers at this time of crisis. 

The free insurance provides life insurance cover of P50,000, if death is due to accident or COVID-19 disease, plus hospital allowance of P500/day (maximum of 10 days) if hospitalized due to accident or COVID-19 disease. The free life insurance and hospitalization allowance coverage is limited to 45 days. 

Chain of Protection is for individuals who work for industries or organizations that provide essential goods or services during the quarantine period. To get the free life insurance, they only need to register to the web link dedicated for this purpose at: 

https://chainofprotection.insularlife.com.ph

The complete list of essential industries under the program can be found there as well. 

“We are now nearing our 110th year, and as a Filipino company, we will always be here for our kababayans. We will continue to support them and even create special products just for them,” added Aguas. 

Record growth at Canva sees new $6B valuation

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Canva today announces a new valuation of US$6 billion from US$3.2 billion, after having raised a US$60 million round.

The doubling in valuation is attributed to Canva’s growing prominence as a workplace collaboration platform fueled by its strong performance in user growth, which continues to accelerate as the world shifts online amidst the global pandemic. Today Canva is embraced by over 30 million people every month to design around the globe, collaborating on presentations, marketing materials, social media content, videos and more -- at a whopping 80 designs per second and a total over 3 billion designs created since launch. 

Canva cofounder and COO Cliff Obrecht said despite the economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company continues to see a significant increase in user activity.

“Canva’s accelerated growth is indicative of the “new normal”, as more teams realize the need for a more scalable, more collaborative, more affordable and more user-friendly design platform. 

“Now more than ever, organizations of all sizes are doubling down on building a reliable remote workplace, and are turning to modern productivity platforms like Canva to ensure they remain flexible and scalable.”

Investor Rick Baker from Blackbird, a renowned venture capital firm based in Australia said the surge in Canva’s numbers is a testament to the design platform’s abilities to cater to the changing needs of the modern workplace.

“This round is further evidence that Canva continues to power ahead. In a post-COVID world of remote working, we are seeing Canva’s original vision - a collaborative platform to provide all the elements to create great design - become even more powerful. As a result, Canva has seen phenomenal growth over the past months, cementing its place as one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the world.”

Mood Rowghani, general partner at Bond adds, "The recent changes in our world have pressured organizations to embrace new methods of work and collaboration. As the lines between home and office have blurred, Canva's digital design platform is empowering a new wave of productivity and interaction for businesses, schools, and nonprofits across the globe. We have been thrilled to work with the team and are excited about what's to come."

Canva affirms its spot as a powerful workplace collaboration suite

Since launch in late 2019, Canva is the collaboration platform of choice for a number of large organizations to mobilize its workforce to create on brand content.

● More than 500,000 organizations on the platform from Small Businesses to Enterprises such as Warner Music, American Airlines, Ingram Micro, and Eaton

● With more than 90,000 schools and universities worldwide such as the NSW Department of Education in Australia and Georgetown University

● As well as over 55,000 nonprofits such as the World Health Organization, Task Force for Global Health, NHS Charities Together and UN Commission on Human Rights.

Skyscanner, the travel search engine that serves 100 million monthly global users, has used Canva to roll out a full rebrand across 36 markets ― all within six months. 

Skyscanner Senior Design Manager, Judson Cowan said, “The time saved for our design and marketing teams was immense. Canva has allowed us to simultaneously adopt our re-brand across all regions, regardless of timezone, or access to designers. The result was an on-time and well received brand launch, which is rare for large businesses.”

As people continue to collaborate online, design creation and sharing on Canva has increased by over 50% since the start of COVID-19. The company will also be rolling out a number of new workplace collaboration features designed to help teams of all sizes work together, through effective visual communication:

● Canva’s Real-time Collaboration brings teamwork to life by letting users work on designs simultaneously.

● Canva Brainstorms is a new design type built for teams to collaborate simultaneously on notes, build moodboards and flesh out ideas using an infinite canvas space.

● Canva Talking Presentations brings a new way to create engaging presentations by allowing presenters to talk through their slides in an interactive format.

● Canva for Desktop offers a seamless desktop experience, paving the way for offline editing and other native features by the end of the year. 

Cementing Canva’s presence in the US and beyond

As a key growth market for Canva, the company is investing in its US operations with the opening of an office in Austin, Texas. 

The US team will provide strategic support for enterprise clients and nonprofits as the country navigates the “new normal” workplace together, kicking off with its inaugural online Enterprise conference on July 29, Elevate 2020. The conference will feature a keynote from Canva CEO and cofounder, Melanie Perkins, as well as customer panels with HubSpot, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services and IDC Global, to name a few. 

When it comes to furthering international growth, Canva is also open to considering acquisitions whereby it invests in companies for their world-class engineering and product teams.

Cliff explains, “We’re open to investment opportunities in the media and editing space as we continue on our mission to provide a comprehensive and valuable product.

“Ultimately, we want Canva to be the go-to platform for all your design needs, so we’ll continue to monitor and evaluate acquisition opportunities.”

For the latest product news, visit https://www.canva.com/whats-new/

7-Eleven Earmarks 711 Million In Support For Franchisees: Borrow as needed. Pay when able. Interest-free.

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Philippine Seven Corporation (PSC), the exclusive licensor of 7-Eleven in the Philippines, announced their Pandemic Support Program (PSP) during the first online Franchise Town Hall Meeting in early June, and began disbursing funds on June 20. 

Jose Victor Paterno, PSC President and CEO, said, 

“We recognized immediately that the country’s (and the world’s) battle with Covid-19 would be long and painful, so the first thing we did was request our bankers for an increase in our credit lines. Thankfully, they responded quickly and generously, and our next focus became how to deploy this access to capital strategically during the pandemic. The PSP is one such example.”

As of end Q1, the company had Php 6.1B in cash and Php 1.8B in debt. It reported profits of Php 104M from its 2,916 stores. However, due to the pandemic, 22% of its stores were closed as of end April, and 11% as of end May. 

Paterno added,

“We remain highly confident in the worst case that we will get to the other side of this not just intact, but stronger. Aside from our resilient and innovative culture, we can also count on continuing access to debt and capital markets. Others in our ecosystem are not so fortunate, so in the spirit of bayanihan, we need to do our part to get them through this storm.

But don’t get me wrong, we are in the same boat as our franchisees with regard to profitability challenges -- just because you can borrow doesn’t mean you’ll make money, just that you’ll survive for longer until you do. You’ll see when we release our Q2 numbers how profits will be extremely challenging for the foreseeable future. We are cutting costs across the board, including forced leaves, retrenchments, and a freeze on hiring, salary increases, and store openings.” 

Paterno is also calling on landlords to share the pain. 

“Most of our 1,000+ franchisees have to pay rent, and we are doing our part to ensure they survive. We are now asking our landlords to do theirs, because if they do not, the franchisee will have to close the store, as will we for our corporate-run stores. We have a very long list of unprofitable stores right now, and we expect the situation to continue until December at the very least. If and when that happens, expect that space to be vacant for a very long time -- we were going to build 400 new stores this year, but have frozen expansion for the foreseeable future. I believe other chains are in a similar situation.”

According to the contract addendum for the PSP, it was designed so that franchisees would not be out of pocket on a monthly basis, allowing them to draw down on the program’s credit line as needed. If and when the franchisee’s situation improves, he or she commits to paying down the credit line monthly, at zero interest. Should he or she choose to no longer continue as a franchisee, all outstanding balances from the PSP will be forgiven. 

Waldo Abad Santos, Co-Chairperson of the PSC Franchise Advisory Council, said, “Franchisees proudly share the 7-Eleven culture of service in times of crisis, such as typhoons and other natural disasters. But this is no calamity that lasts a week, and many of us were worried where we’d find capital to continue to serve when we were losing so much. Nobody wants to lend it seems, so we are grateful the PSP was launched to enable us to continue serving our communities. When all this is over, PSC’s concrete commitment to long-term partnership is something we franchisees will never forget -- I personally don’t know of any other franchisor supporting its franchisees to this extent.”

When asked why 711M pesos, Paterno said, “Well, we’re prepared to commit around that amount for now, so might as well pick a lucky number so that all this ends quicker than we expect.”