BMOBILE on Saturday night launched an e-commerce platform called Parlor that aims to provide local and regional artisans and craft makers a bigger market for their products.
E-commerce platform Parlor was launched at a cocktail party held at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain last Saturday. The ceremony was attended by a wide group of business leaders, members of the craft community, members of the diplomatic corps and several government ministers.
Speakers at the launch included the Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee Scoon, who delivered the keynote address; Minister of Sports and Community Development, Shamfa Cudjoe; Minister of Public Services, Marvin Gonzales; Export Centers Company Ltd, interim CEO Kaisha Ince; Export Import Bank of Trinidad and Tobago CEO Navin Dookeran and TSTT Emerging Services Innovation Assistant General Manager Keino Cox.
TSTT Chairman Sean Roach told the audience: “We are gathered here to celebrate the launch of a powerful, unique e-commerce marketplace in the Caribbean, called Parlor, which will become the Caribbean’s largest online platform for buying and selling local and regional products. .
Roach added: “Our long-term goal is to partner with 100,000 sellers and enable them to attract millions of consumers to their products.”
TSTT CEO Lisa Agard said Parlor is a platform that has been designed and developed by the company’s employees to showcase T&T products to the world, products that are created and produced by people in T&T and the region.
“It has been named, modified and adapted to reflect our Caribbean flair and culture and to suit the unique needs of our Caribbean artisans and entrepreneurs. Our people. Our products.
Our platform. This is what sets it apart from competing products on the market.”
Agard acknowledged that while “craft-based businesses around the world have a lot of work to do in terms of incorporating technology into their operations and capturing the benefits it offers in terms of being more data-driven, more efficient and more responsive to customers, bmobile has the products and services that can digitally transform and support our artisans and small entrepreneurs and offer them the same access to communication technology as any large corporation.”
In his presentation, TSTT Emerging Services Innovation assistant general manager Keino Cox explained that through its partnership with Export Centers Company Ltd (ECCL), Parlor will be home to the national digital craft store. This will showcase a wide range of products offered by artisans registered with ECCL, the largest artisan network in the country.
Cox said the platform will also host a number of other sellers from other categories as it seeks to provide an online marketplace for businesses. In October, Parlor will expand its network to the regional and global market allowing millions of customers, including those from the diaspora markets of the US, Canada and the UK, to access the diverse range of Caribbean products.
Cox added that through partnerships with leading logistics providers, sellers on the platform will be able to ship their products to every corner of the region and ultimately the world.
To facilitate this, the telco expects to launch its digital payments solution (a first) which will provide Parlor users with a simple, secure and affordable way to complete transactions.
TSTT also said Parlor will provide an entire digital ecosystem to support its sellers, especially members of the creative community, in modernizing the way they promote and sell their products. It will help them build and transform their businesses and lives.
Part of the digital ecosystem is Parlor University (Parlour U), an online learning portal that will provide sellers with instant access to everything they need to learn about setting up, opening and managing their online stores. These resources will include downloadable documents, PowerPoint presentations, demonstration videos, interactive quizzes, live training sessions and workshops.
