PayMaya, Mercury Drug launch partnership

As part of efforts to accelerate the adoption of cashless payments in the country, PLDT Inc.’s digital payments service has partnered with Mercury Drug Corp. to allow customers to make quick response (QR) payments for purchases at the pharmacy retail chain’s outlets.

Mercury Drug is the first pharmacy retail chain in the country to accept payment of medicines and other consumer goods via PayMaya Philippines’ QR.

PayMaya’s scan-to-pay technology will be available in Mercury Drug’s branches nationwide.

“With our collaboration with Mercury Drug, one of the leading drugstore chains in the country, we are poised to accelerate the adoption of cashless payments in the country,” Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT, Smart Communications Inc., Voyager Innovations Inc. and PayMaya Philippines chairman, said.

Mercury Drug Corp. president Vivian Que-Azcona said the partnership with PayMaya would allow the drugstore chain to provide a convenient experience for customers.

“We are excited to be among the pioneers in embracing this cashless technology,” she said.

Through the partnership, Mercury Drug aims to reduce lines in the stores since there would be no need to give change.

“Making PayMaya QR as a payment option in-store is a key part of our major collaboration effort with Mercury Drug. We will roll out more initiatives in the coming months that will transform Mercury Drug customers’ experience,” Orlando Vea, Voyager Innovations and PayMaya president and chief executive officer said.

He added the partnership with Mercury Drug keeps Voyager Innovations on track with the target to have 30 million clients by 2020.

At present, there are eight million users of PayMaya and Smart Money which are both under Voyager Innovations.

“We are pleased to see more of our enterprise partners embracing cashless technologies with PayMaya. At PLDT, we support PayMaya’s thrust of enabling more businesses with digital payments, complemented by our connectivity and digital solutions,” PLDT Alpha vice president Vic Tria said.

With the PayMaya QR, customers only need to open their PayMaya app, press the “scan” button, point their phone’s camera to the QR code displayed in Mercury Drug store counters, and enter the amount they need to pay to complete their transactions.