Ease of doing business for MSMEs: Branchless banking and digital payments network PayNearby on Wednesday launched PayNearby Radio, a platform to provide bite-sized content that offers both entertainment and livelihood enhancement tools. According to a company statement, the radio enhances engagement for retailers and provides tips on shop modernization and income augmentation, healthcare and lifestyle, and news updates relevant to them.
The company said the platform has “registered over 1.5 lakh events within the days of its launch.”
The platform is at present available in Hindi, but PayNearby plans to provide it in other regional languages as well. “PayNearby Radio has a familiar interface, similar to popular social media platforms and enables retailers to like and share content, fostering collaboration and amplifying reach. PayNearby aims to evolve radio into a valuable two-way conduit for retailer communication,” the statement said.
Anand Kumar Bajaj, founder, MD & CEO, of PayNearby said that the radio is an initiative dedicated to empowering retailers’ personal and economic well-being.
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“Content that is tailor-made for our retailers will ensure that we are able to add substantial value to their livelihoods and lifestyles. Over time, we are working to evolve this platform into a medium that allows our retailers and their families to showcase their talent and create the go-to engagement channel for them,” he said.
PayNearby Radio said that for retailers who lead a very busy life and may not have the time and bandwidth for text, banner or video content, a world of information and entertainment will open up just by plugging in the ubiquitous earphones.
“The content is designed to be very simple, upfront and sharp so that the message can be relayed easily to a wider audience in a non-intrusive engaged format. We will constantly innovate and partner with relevant stakeholders to bring in a medley of content that is relevant for this community,” PayNearby said. The radio will also enable the dissemination of critical information like subsidy announcements.
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“In today’s world of high decibel noise and hugely fragmented media space, getting the mindshare of a targeted cohort becomes really challenging. More challenging is to hold their interest and create stickiness, without being intrusive and lack-lustre. Marketers today are vulnerable to the pitfalls of a high-churn media environment, that doesn’t make appropriate allowances for the specific requirement of a target cohort,” said Jayatri Dasgupta, CMO, of PayNearby.
The company, through its DaaS (Distribution as a Service) network, enables services like cash withdrawal, remittance, Aadhaar banking, bill payment and recharges, savings, travel, digital payments, insurance and more. Currently, it has over 50 lakh retailers across the country.