Red Dot, the leading payments solutions service provider in Myanmar, celebrated its first birthday ceremony on 26 January. At the ceremony Red Dot announced significant business milestones including an incredible achievement of reaching 10,000 stores across the length and breadth of Myanmar. Red Dot also announced a world first initiative launching a partnership with Viber, Myanmar’s most popular messaging and VoIP operator, to provide Viber Out to local consumers. Viber Out allows Viber users to call non-Viber users directly to their landline and mobile phones both domestically and at a significantly reduced price outside of Myanmar. Due to Red Dot’s initiative, Myanmar is the very first market in the world where Viber has been able to launch Viber Out to cash consumers. In other countries Viber Out requires bank or credit card payments – a major issue in Myanmar’s predominantly cash-based society.
“The success of Red Dot in Myanmar has resulted in this groundbreaking world-first innovation to provide in-demand digital products to the people of Myanmar,” said Red Dot Founder and CEO John Nagle. “We will continue to innovate and look for more world-first opportunities to empower Myanmar’s retail sector.”
Andy Whelan, Red Dot Chief Marketing Officer said “Red Dot has become an integral part of communities across Myanmar and our network continues to grow rapidly. “Achieving our 10,000th outlet is a real testament not just to our efforts to expand in the country but also to the commitment and support of the many shop owners and consumers who enjoy our services.”
Red Dot’s 9,999th shop owner, Paing Aung Soe, and 10,000th shop owner, Ar Kar, who came all the way from Kayin State, joined the one-year anniversary celebrations, receiving congratulatory gifts from the company. “When I first heard about Red Dot, I was so excited because I knew this was the future for the retail market,” said Paing Ag Soe, who went from a being a distributor of scratch cards to opening his own mobile shop selling only top-up from Red Dot.
Ar Kar, who has a mobile phone shop in Kayin State, had heard about Red Dot but didn’t sign up until a sales team visited to explain Red Dot’s many benefits for shop owners. Ar Kar said “With Red Dot there is no need for stock management, which is what really attracted me, thanks to Red Dot I no longer have to purchase various scratch card denominations. This has really made my life easier and allowed me to run this part of my business more smoothly.”
Red Dot was founded in May 2014 and first launched operations in Myanmar in January 2015. Red Dot is the leading Electronic Mobile Top-Up service in Myanmar, also providing bill payment, customer loyalty and customer management services, which have been specifically tailored to the local market. Since launch, the Myanmar based company has grown to a network of 10,000 retailers, adding bill payment, e-commerce and other innovative solutions.
