WHAT WORKS:

SMART COMMUNICATIONS'
BOP-DRIVEN BUSINESS MODEL

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Smart Communications, Inc. had almost 12.5 million GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) subscribers as of June 30, 2004, 98% of whom are pre-paid subscribers. In the first half of 2004, Smart’s ongoing growth has enabled it to become the Philippines’ leading wireless operator. Smart increased operating revenues in this period by 40% to nearly P31 billion (US$554 million) compared to P22 billion (US$395 million) in the same period of 2003. Operating income increased by 91%, to P15.27 billion (US$274.1 million), and net income by 90% to P11.64 billion (US$208.79 million).

Smart’s growth is credited as the primary growth driver of its parent company, Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), during the last five years. Additionally, Smart has won GSM Association awards in 2002 and 2003 in recognition of product and service innovations. These innovations are Smart’s solutions to business problems they have encountered in their efforts to capture and retain the low-income market in the Philippines.

BUSINESS MODEL

Smart’s business model has had a "base of the economic pyramid" (BOP) market orientation from the start. The company has continuously modified their products and services to sell further downstream in this market. Smart Buddy is the pre-paid cellular phone subscriber service upon which their BOP focus rests. Smart Buddy subscribers used pre-paid, text-only phone cards in units as low as P100 (US$1.80) to re-load airtime onto their cellular phones. The service, called PureTxt, was introduced in August 2002 in order to provide an alternative to subscribers who were not able to afford other "call and text" cards on the market. The lowest denomination previously available to subscribers was a P300 (US$5.38) card.

Smart Money was introduced in December 2000 to both post- and pre-paid subscribers. A partnership with MasterCard, the company calls Smart Money "the world’s first electronic cash card linked to a mobile phone." Smart Money enables users to transfer money from a bank account to a Smart Money account. Subscribers can then use a Smart Money card like a debit card to pay for a variety of goods and services at a network of retail stores and restaurants. Another element of the service allows users to transfer cash from one Smart Money card to another via short message system (SMS). The service being restricted to customers with a bank account, it could be characterized as more of a "top of the pyramid" service.

In May 2003, Smart introduced a new service based on the Smart Buddy mobile commerce technology platform. Called Smart Load, the service enables the electronic transfer of airtime via SMS. Whereas Smart Money transferred cash and required a bank account, Smart Load transfers pre-paid airtime from a retail merchant or other reseller to a pre-paid phone customer, allowing for cash payments to the reseller. This capacity provides merchants with incentives to sell airtime, effectively expanding Smart’s distribution network and market. In searching for a way to increase their revenue on pre-paid sales, Smart’s answer was to eliminate the need for a physical card as the mechanism to purchase or re-load cellular phone minutes. As a result, by the end of the second quarter of 2003, Smart eliminated production and distribution of their P100 re-load card.

Also at that time, Smart Load prices were broken down into smaller denominations: P30 (US$0.54), P60 (US$1.07), P115 (US$2.06), and P200 (US$3.58). Advertised by Smart as "telecoms in sachets," the smaller denominations were designed for the low-income Filipino market that already purchases consumer goods in small quantities. Smart realized that most Filipino incomes fall in the lower income brackets, with as much as 51% of the population surviving on US$2.00 per day or less.

Additionally, the Smart Load payment model paid attention to low-income market practices. Despite the technology of the product, as noted by the company, "relationship selling" is what ultimately makes Smart Load possible. Smart retailers are predominantly "sari-sari" (sari-sari means "varied" in Tagalog) storeowners – small merchants with close connections to their patrons. Furthermore, sari-sari merchants often provide credit when their patrons are unable to afford cash purchases. Smart has created a network of over 500,000 retailers including sari-sari stores, housewives, students, and other "roving agents." Retailers complete transactions using SMS as well, but Smart catered a special system to their needs, including a unique menu and a specially-designed subscriber identity module (SIM). According to the company, some retailers earn up to P1000 (US$18.00) per day in re-load sales.

Smart had 50,000 outlets when Smart Load was launched in May 2003, but that number jumped to over 500,000 retail agents due to the success of its current distribution network. By September 2003, "two thirds of Smart’s pre-paid users were reloading their phones electronically." Additionally, the company reports that "[a]s of June 30, 2004, approximately 91% of Smart Buddy subscribers were using Smart Load as their reloading mechanism" and that "Smart Load accounted for approximately 61% of sales derived from reloads."

In December 2003, Smart introduced the Pasa Load initiative, which further lowered the denominations of pre-paid cellular services into P2 (US$0.03), P5 (US$0.08), P10 (US$0.18), and P15 (US$0.27) increments.

BUSINESS BENEFITS AND DEVELOPMENT IMPACT

Smart's innovative approach minimizes physical product distribution costs and creates a demand-response stocking system for pre-paid airtime, reducing risk across the firm. Product distribution is now faster, more efficient, and as the company claims, more secure (though technology specifics are not easily available in order to fully analyze network security).

The new distribution structure and pricing scheme benefits retailers as well. Retail distributors have no physical stock to store and manage and no accompanying property theft risks (except that of retailer handsets and SIMs). The SMS distribution interface is reportedly easy to use and can be sold in a personal fashion complementary to sari-sari business practices. The special retailer SIMs have a function allowing retailers to "open" or "close" their retail handsets via SMS and allowing retailers to sell outside of a physical location, and for shop owners, outside of regular store hours.

Finally, consumers benefit from the "telecommunications-in-sachets" model of small unit sales. Smart Buddy, PureTxt, and Pasa Load made telecommunications services affordable, while Smart Load and Smart Money made services accessible with faster, more convenient reloads that don’t require physical presence for purchase. The ability to reload electronically means consumers can purchase airtime in rural locations. The community as a whole benefits from broader service (wherever a Smart signal is available). Additionally, jobs have been created for entrepreneurs, the service’s resellers, which run the gamut from store owners, to housewives, to students.

KEY LESSONS

Smart Communications, Inc. has become the Philippines' leading wireless company by paying attention to the needs of the country's low-income market. They have created innovative products and services designed specifically for the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) consumer, thereby growing their pre-paid subscriber base and, in turn, steadily generating income from these subscribers.

Smart's ability to adapt to customers' shopping patterns and limited individual purchasing power generated a ripple effect in the Philippine wireless market. Not only did their approach with Smart Buddy, Smart Money, Smart Load, and Pasa Load help telecommunications services reach the majority of Filipinos, but Smart's applications have helped to generate real revenue and opportunities for small entrepreneurs.

Smart's sensitivity to local business practices at the small- and micro-enterprise level allowed them to capitalize on an existing distribution network that they did not have to create by themselves. In particular, the low-priced, "on credit" purchasing practices of sari-sari's presents an opportunity for other types of mobile business transactions to occur in a similar fashion to the Smart Load model. Increased mobile banking activity from Smart and more inclusion of the BOP in formal banking channels could mean significant business developments in the Philippines – especially in the area of remittances.

Read the full case study (PDF format)