Magazines Archives - 2009 February

Alliance lets OFWs shop for their families back home
Story 11 - E-Commerce

NON-BANK remittance company I-Remit Inc has partnered Home Shopping Network Inc, operator of Shop TV, to allow overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to shop for their families in the Philippines.

With iRemit’s newest product, called iShop, OFWs using the remittance firm’s Shop N Pay card can pay for purchases made by telephone or online at retail outlets registered with Shop TV.

“Any purchase, made anywhere in the world, can be delivered to the intended recipient’s doorstep in the Philippines within 24 hours after an order is made,” iRemit said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The iRemit Shop N Pay card is a personalised debit and ATM card that features real-time crediting of remit-tances from abroad. Remitters and their beneficiaries can use the card to withdraw cash from more than 8,000 ATMs across the archipelago. As a debit card, it is also accepted in over 24 million
Visa-affiliated merchants worldwide.

“As long as the [card] is funded, you can buy virtually anything that your heart desires. Many retailers have an online presence that enables customers to buy items much cheaper by plastic online ...
any time of the day or night” with purchases delivered right to buyers’ doors, said Harris Jacildo, president and COO of iRemit.

The Philippine economy — and retail sector — is highly dependent on OFW remittances, estimated at US$16.9 billion last year and expected to go up by 6%-9% this year.

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