KUALA LUMPUR: Boost, the electronic wallet application (e-wallet) developed by Axiata Digital, aims to increase its merchants to 100,000 by the end of 2018 from its present 5,000 in the region.
Boost chief executive officer Christopher Tiffin said although the target was ambitious, the company has an ongoing strategy to pull in new merchants. One of which includes a free first year service.
Traditionally, he said, merchants would have to pay the service provider annually but with Boost, the first-year fee will be waived.
He added that as for payments from the second year onwards, the sum is significantly lower than that on any other payment platforms in the market.
To date, Tiffin said, Boost has acquired over 800,000 users in the past year.
"We are optimistic that we will be able to consistently increase the number of users and merchants in the near future, maybe within six months and will continue to keep track of improvements for consumers.
"Of the total number of merchants, 50 per cent are cash partners and the rest are online business partners and services.
"We need to balance the number of consumers and merchants, therefore this year we are committed to increasing the numbers," he said after the Boost media briefing here Monday.
Tiffin said their priority as they enter the market was to make it as easy as possible for the merchants as it is for the consumers.
In conjunction with Chinese New Year, he said Boost will debut its “Paint the Town Red” campaign, where signature red QR codes will be displayed by all of its online and offline merchant partners nationwide.
He said users can scan the codes using their mobile phones during their daily transaction.
Boost, he said, will also introduce a number of new features that will include “raining ang pows”, in conjunction with Chinese New Year.
This will be available from Jan 30 to Feb 28 when consumers pay with the app at physical outlets or via online stores as well as when they make digital voucher purchases and top-up their Celcom pre-paid or pay their postpaid bills.
Boost is an app-based innovative wallet that offers Malaysians an easy, convenient way to pay, send, and request and store money in one’s smartphones.
Launched in January last year, the app has moved from catering to just pre-paid top ups and digital vouchers to a leading e-wallet app now.
Users can even use Boost at selected night markets, food trucks, food courts and across various industries such as food and beverages, entertainment and transportation.