(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Surging consumer demand for online retail in a post-COVID Sri Lanka has led to a rapid increase in enterprises signing on with HNB AppiGo, a revolutionary platform that facilitates businesses with end-to-end e-commerce capabilities.
Launching with an initial 15 retail partners during the height of the COVID lockdown in mid-April, AppiGo has since gathered rapid momentum, with over 70+ merchants having come on-board to establish personalised e-commerce enabled websites.
“Over the past three months, Sri Lanka’s e-commerce landscape has witnessed unprecedented transformation and growth. With most of us having been restricted to our homes during the lockdown, many businesses were thrown into turmoil. However this volatility also created space for our most enterprising customers to meet this major surge in online retail opportunities head-on.
“While we had commenced development of the AppiGo platform long before the threat of COVID had emerged, we expedited its development and roll out in response to the pandemic. Our goal was to provide the most cost-effective model possible that would essentially serve as a comprehensive, plug- and-play online retail solution that would be scalable for enterprises of any size. The outstanding response that we have had from the merchants who have already come on-board is a powerful validation of these goals,” HNB Deputy General Manager – Retail and SME Banking, Sanjay Wijemanne stated.
Developed in partnership with renowned software development specialists, hSenid, HNB AppiGo is designed to ensure that with just a few clicks, any business can set-up shop online – including personalised websites capable of capturing and fulfilling customer orders, and accepting online payments in addition to back-end systems for tracking delivery, and even establishing customer loyalty programmes.
“We are very happy to have launched AppiGo in Sri Lanka to help Businesses go online and have their own Web-store. AppiGo is very unique as it empowers businesses to achieve more by directly engaging with their customers on a one-on-one basis,” hSenid Group of Companies Founder and Chairman, Dinesh Saparamadu said.
The bank has also taken measures to ensure that any merchant can register themselves to use the platform with complete ease. Any merchant seeking to use AppiGo must submit basic documentation online.
Once approved, the merchant can immediately begin customising their web portal with their logo, brand colours, product and price lists, and start capturing and fulfilling customer orders. The entire web customisation process is highly streamlined, and can be completed in just 15 minutes while the entire merchant web page is optimised to be adaptive and responsive on all devices. This enables merchants to start capturing and fulfilling customer orders securely and systematically while receiving payments through HNB.
The entire registration process and use of the platform itself is totally free of charge – with only a nominal transaction fee being levied.
Notably, the system is designed to be able to integrate with any merchant’s existing delivery services, while those who have not established delivery can also access third-party delivery services through AppiGo at an additional cost.
With 252 customer centres across the country, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically innovative banks having won local and global recognition for its efforts to drive forward a new paradigm in digital banking. Over the recent past, the bank has continuously won prestigious accolades including being declared Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka by the Asian Banker Magazine, in addition to ranking among the Banker Magazine Global Top 1,000. Locally, HNB leads the Business Today Top 10 rankings and also claimed seven awards at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2019. The first Sri Lankan bank to obtain an international credit rating, HNB was assigned a rating of B1 by Moody’s Investors Service, and a national long term rating of AA+ (lka) by Fitch Ratings (Lanka) Ltd.
