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Bernard Leong sits down with Tyson Hackwood, Head of Asia at Braintree, to discuss the online payment company’s footprint in Asia

Analyse Asia is a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong and features guests from across Asia’s vibrant tech community. e27 will republish the series covering a range of companies, topics and news analysis. To follow Bernard, and Analyse Asia, check him out on Twitter and Facebook.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with timestamps included):

• Story of Tyson Hackwood
  • Tyson Hackwood, Head of Asia @ Braintree (LinkedIn, @tysonius)
  • How did Tyson get started in technology? [0:58]
  • Prior to his current role in BrainTree and Paypal, he worked in News Limited and Vodafone in the areas of online advertising and mobile services in a 2G and WAP world. What are the interesting lessons you have learned in the course of your career? [3:22]
  • How did Tyson end up in Paypal and subsequently leading Braintree in Asia Pacific? [5:06]
• Braintree in Asia (@braintree)
  • An  introduction to Braintree product and services and its history until acquired by Paypal. [6:52]
    • The company was founded in 2007 in Chicago and joined the PayPal family in 2013. Braintree is a payment platform built with the customer at the core that is used by many mobile companies, household names such as Uber and Airbnb. Two years after Paypal’s acquisition, Braintree has more than US$50 billion in authorised payment volume, up by quadrupling their payment value.
  • What is the footprint of Braintree in Asia? Which countries have Braintree expanded into? [9:58]
    • The Asia Pacific expansion started with Australia. In March 2015, Braintree announced the expansion of its Asia Pacific footprint into Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. This expansion means that Braintree is now present and operational in more than 40 countries, offering that same seamless payment experience. Braintree launched a beta platform in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia alongside a number of partner businesses with plans to roll out to more Asian markets in the future.
  • What are the challenges for Braintree in Asia in the area of localising for the community? [12:08]
  • What are the business opportunities for Braintree to tap in a mobile first Asia? [13:17]
    • Today, m-commerce is predicted to grow at the compound annual growth rate of 42 per cent – 3x the rate of e-commerce. (From a recent study commissioned by PayPal involving 17,600 consumers in 22 countries). Asia has an extremely high mobile penetration. It’s a region that we call ‘Mobile First’ where people have never owned a desktop computer and have gone straight to mobile. Asia leads the world in smartphone use and engagement – as well as many other online shopping and viewing behaviours. (According to a recent study released by Google called “the Consumer Barometer”)
    • Globally, according to a PayPal-IPSOS study based on the surveys of 17,600 consumers in 22 countries, we expect purchases via handheld devices to grow at an annual compound rate of 42 per cent between 2013 and 2016,that represents a terrific opportunity for PayPal and Braintree. Take Singapore as an example: 96 per cent of online shoppers own a smart phone and we’ve seen the online shopping population here increase from 1.8 million to 2.7 million between 2011 and 2014. [16:56]
    • The importance of tokenisation for online payments.
  • Given these insights, what are the best practices for merchants to think when working on mobile payments in Asia Pacific? [18:36]
    • The move to mobile enables consumers to shop on more devices – and in new contexts and from across more locations – than ever before. This opens the opportunity for consumers and merchants to connect in more meaningful ways.
    •  Merchants and consumers expect simple, intuitive, one-click purchase experiences. These sort of intuitive experiences that are built for mobile-first consumers are what we aim to deliver.
    • The trust factor with payments [20:48]
  • Interesting tips for merchants going mobile:
    • Streamline the experience – merchants must evolve their mobile offerings to meet these new desires.
    • Build on personalised expectations – merchants should look to design services that build on the relationship people have with their mobiles and leverage known data and behaviors to deliver utility and anticipate need.
    • Capture on-demand intent – mobile should give users the ability to quickly connect to products or services as they encounter them and choose appropriate purchase options, capitalising on their buyer intent.
    • Sync interactions across channels – Syncing consumer profiles across channels opens the door to tailored offerings at every stage of the purchase path, while making loyalty a key component of longer term strategies.
    • Generate trust through transparency – Being up front with consumers about how their personal data is being used, and adding value to the overall commerce experience can position merchants and brands as trusted allies.
    • Recipes to simplify actions – By developing custom tools and shortcuts, and partnering with outside services, merchants and brands can enable users to have more control over their mobile experience.
  • Any interesting case studies for Braintree to share specific to Asia? [22:30]
    • Passport Asia: It is a fitness app with a difference and designed to open up access to 300+ gyms and studios across Singapore, giving users insights into what yoga classes are being held on a Tuesday night, or which is the best Pilates group to join. Operating since June 2015, the product is aimed at busy executives but also has seen many use the connectivity of Passport Asia by connecting with other users to arrange meet up groups. The process of signing up for new entrants is seamless and simple, so the team at Passport Asia were looking for a similar solution for the back-end payment process. The Braintree team has helped the Passport Asia app establish itself as a business since its inception.
    • KFit: Designed to help grow awareness and access to fitness rather than simply offering a better deal to those more committed to working out. The app has been up and running for approximately nine months in Singapore and Malaysia. The organisation is focused on allowing merchants in the fitness space to attract more customers – acting as a virtual notice board, showing users what is on. 100K people signed up to use the service in the first three months of operations. A smooth payments facility and being available on desktop and mobile was critical for the success of this merchant.
    • Hawker: Everybody loves their hawker food in Singapore and a duo of forward thinking ‘e-hawkers’ has set up a recently developed app that allows for the delivery of hawker fare to home addresses. Designed to cut unnecessary queuing at hot, noisy hawker centres, the app designers hope to capitalise on the increasing trend for Singaporeans to order food online and via mobile. Braintree’s multi-device payment platform is an ideal fit for a fast, nimble service such as Hawker, that can thrive on a cash free, secure payments back end.
  • As Braintree expands from developed cities to developing countries such as Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, what will be the challenges ahead? [28:58]

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