Telemedia month Dec 2013

Issue 45 • DECEMBER 2013

A scam too far?

Premium SMS billing comes to an end in the US

THIS MONTH...

News

• Adyen secure in-app purchasing for the masses

3 • E50bn of content to be bought with carrier billing by 2017 4 • 40% of UK consumers find m-marketing irrelevant 5 • Entertainment purchases ffirst port of call on mobile 6 • Thomas Pink rolls out digital vouchers with Eagle Eye 7 • Social gambling platform ‘a game changer’

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Analysis Editorial Next generation web Paul Skeldon suggests that 2014 isn’t about Mobile 3.0 but about a new way to ‘do’ the web 9 ANALYSIS Canada goes mad for direct carrier billing While the US is shutting down PSMS, across the border, Canadians are going tonto for direct carrier billing. Martin Grace, VP at Triton Globa explains why and what it means

10

AT&T, Sprint, t-mobile and verizon have all announced that they will be terminating premium SMS billing for most services in the United States following pressure from a Vermont Attournety General to end a PSMS based mobile phone ‘cramming’ scam, writes Bob Bentz from the US. Political donation services will continue.

The move was made, in part, due to recent programmes where consumers downloaded software on their mobile phones and unscrupulous premium SMS providers charged their mobile phone bills, apparently without the knowledge of those downloading the software. This process is known as “cramming” and is, of course, illegal. Hopefully, the government will pursue the providers of such services in the same manner that they pursued the end of what has been a very viable and legitimate business in most other countries around the world.

It isn’t the total end of premium SMS billing, however. Charitable donations via premium SMS, like the one that Mrs. Obama did after the Haiti hurricanes, will still be permitted. And, in a move that should surprise nobody, Mr. Sorrell and other politicians will still be able to raise campaign funds via premium SMS. Funny

ANALYSIS Shaking up the payments eco-system M-Payments is going to hot in 2014, Tom Conlon VP at VeriFone outlines some of the key trends to look out for through next year 12 ANALYSIS Something new for brands Oscar Diele, CMO at Spil Games looks at why change of emphasis away from TV and towards games might mean big news in 2014 14

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NEWS >>>from page 1 US PSMS halted how politicians are exempt from the telemarketing Do-Not-Call list solicitations and now are holding on to premium SMS fundraising as well.

AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile had actually announced that they were terminating their programme in response to the efforts by the Vermont Attorney General and the 44 other attorneys general that were involved in the discussions. Verizon, however, had already announced its intentions to wind down its premium SMS program.

Verizon general counsel William Petersen said in a statement: “Verizon had previously decided to exit the premium messaging business because of these changes as well as recent allegations that third parties have engaged in improper conduct in providing premium messaging services to our customers. We are in the process of winding down our premium messaging business.”

“T-Mobile will terminate all billing for premium SMS, except for charitable and political giving, as soon as possible with as minimal impact on our customers as possible,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere. “We believe in making things right for our customers.”

Andrew Budd, global chairman of the MEF agrees: “The decisions taken this week in the US will put an end to the deplorable business of mobile cramming in that market. It is also an example of how a useful model of mobile commerce can forfeit its place in the market. This development vividly demonstrates the fundamental importance of consumer trust and confidence to the mobile content & commerce industry. Lessons must be learned and applied, in particular to the growing issue of consumer data privacy.”

Premium SMS was originally thought of as a viable alternative to the decline of 900 numbers. And, it certainly made sense to think that way given the proliferation of mobile phones and the impact of text messaging. But, the service never really caught on in the USA to the same extent that it did in other countries. Certainly, the carrier take was very high, but it is in other countries too. And, just like with 900 numbers, the initial participants were

often bottom of the barrel late night television-type services.

There is no doubt that the cramming practices by these unscrupulous providers was a problem, but as one who has worked in alternate billing telemedia industry for 24 years, it is continually frustrating that the United States doesn’t seem to be able to make such services viable when they are completely viable in most other countries around the world! In fact, there are no people that are more like US citizens than our friendly neighbors to the north; and, premium SMS continues to be a perfectly legitimate billing mechanism in Canada.

No doubt, the USA is probably the target of more unscrupulous providers given the shear size of its economy.

But, do the US carriers build in enough safeguards to protect itself against such less than altruistic services? Are there holes in the carrier approval and testing process? Why doesn’t the USA have a regulatory service like Phone Pay Plus in the UK? And, most importantly, do we protect our consumers to a fault?

Let’s face it, I’ve had to give chargebacks to consumers over the years that told me that their “cat dialed the 900 number!”

We had no choice, because our government passed laws (TCPA) that said we are prohibited from making collection efforts if a consumer wanted a chargeback. (Imagine buying a sweater at Macy’s, not returning it, but saying you wanted a refund.)

Maybe that’s the biggest reason why alternate billing services work without problems in so many other countries, but don’t work in the USA.

Securing inapp payments Adyen, a global provider of international and multichannel payment solutions, has launched its Easy Encryption Solution, which enables merchants to offer the highest end-to-end security for their customers worldwide while retaining complete control over the customer shopping experience. The solution can be used for payment checkout on all desktop and mobile devices, and caters to particular demand for encrypted payment capability over native mobile apps though a simple library integration.

Adyen’s Easy Encryption Solution encrypts the customer’s payment data in the web browser or app and the data remains encrypted until it reaches Adyen’s servers.

Throughout this process, the customer’s data is immune to security threats. The Adyen solution takes on the burden of managing cardholder data and encryption, removing the need for the payment to be routed through the merchant’s server thus reducing the costs involved with meeting and monitoring Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance.

An increasing number of online merchants across sectors such as ticketing, travel, consumer services, retail and social networking are choosing to sell to customers via native apps because this offers an optimized checkout experience around the world. Adyen’s Easy Encryption Solution is the only solution of its kind available on an international scale. It enables merchants from all around the world to use their own payment pages to connect with Adyen’s Payment Platform and accept card payments in 187 currencies as well as a large number of alternative payment methods.

NEWS

#PAYMENTS E50bn of content to be billed by direct carrier billing by 2017, says Juniper the european market for digital content is expected to increase from an estimated 15.8 billion Euro in 2012 to almost 29 billion Euro in 2017. And with a handset penetration of more than 120 percent, direct carrier billing is the perfect opportunity to implement an anytime, anywhere payment mechanism, according to the new white paper from Juniper Research and the international mobile payment and messaging company DIMOCO. The white paper “Is mobile operator payment the ideal payment method for digital content?” found that direct carrier billing implementations have seen between 10 and 14 times the conversion rate of credit cards.

According to Juniper’s Research Director, Dr Windsor Holden: “The beauty of the direct carrier billing process lies in its simplicity and ubiquity: if enabled, it

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can be utilised by anyone with a mobile phone, allowing content providers to monetise digital content through the hundreds of millions of consumers who lack credit or debit cards, or who simply don’t want to register a card. Where carrier billing has been deployed, not only do conversion rates rise sharply, but there is a marked increase in average transaction values.”

The research by the two companies have proven that this payment method, which is mostly used for billing digital content with the consumers’ mobile phone bill, is a ubiquitous payment opportunity.

The report also finds that more than 283 million adults across Europe do not own a debit card, furthermore the fast increasing proportion of 12-15 year olds who own smartphones are also unable to purchase content this way. With a hand-

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set penetration of more than 120% in Europe, direct carrier billing represents an opportunity to implement a ubiquitous payment mechanism.

In additions, direct carrier billing implementations have seen 10 – 14 times the conversion rate of credit card initial transaction rates and content providers have also seen average transaction values rise by more than 40%.

Juniper Research believes that the value of digital content billed via direct carrier billing will increase from just under 790 million Euro last year to more than 5.2 billion in 2017, representing average annual growth over the forecast period of 46%.

Content providers are recommended to ensure that their billing platforms enable direct carrier billing via PCs and TVs, to monetize the multiscreen content opportunity.

NEWS

#MARKETING 40% of UK consumers feel m-marketing isn’t relevant or useful to them nearly Half (42%) of consumers in the UK don’t feel any of the marketing communications they receive from businesses via their mobile devices are relevant or useful, according to research by integrated mobile solutions specialist Oxygen8 Group.

The survey, which looked at what kinds of communications consumers currently receive on their mobile phone - including SMS messages, app notifications, email and automated voice messages - also identified that a further 44% find less than a quarter of the messages they receive of value.

“Mobile marketing allows businesses to communicate with their customers wherever they are which makes it an incredibly powerful channel,” says Maria Grant, Head of Product Development at Oxygen8 Group. “What’s concerning is how few of the messages consumers are currently

receiving they find valuable. Companies need to rethink their mobile marketing strategies, working harder to identify the needs of each customer and synching up all channels to get a better picture of their habits and preferences. Only then will they be able to find the best way to communicate with them and deliver the right message at the right time.”

But while consumers believe the majority of the communications they currently receive lack relevancy, nearly a quarter (22%) would be more likely to buy from/ spend money with a business in future if the company sent them a useful mobile communication. Targeted mobile marketing could also change consumer perceptions. 34% of consumers would have a better view of a business or would feel a business understands their needs if they were sent mobile communications that were relevant to them.

“These results show that targeted mobile marketing can change perceptions and drive sales,” concludes Grant. “A vast amount of customer data and the tools to analyse it are now available for businesses to create intelligent mobile marketing strategies. The work we do with our customers is all about targeted communications that offer long term return on investment. This research shows a clear call to action for companies to invest in these tools to achieve value from their mobile marketing.”

The study also looked at what kinds of communications consumers would like to receive on their mobile devices. More than half (54%) were interested in receiving discount vouchers, while 46% would like to find out when a product they are interested in is back in store, showing there is a market need for these types of messages as long as they are targeted.

NEWS

#COMMERCE Entertainment purchases first port of call for smartphone users, finds Omnico study

entertainment purchases such as books, games and DVDs, gadgets and cinema tickets are the most popular items for consumers to purchase on their smartphones, according to research conducted by global retail technology provider, Omnico.

More than half of smartphone shoppers buy books, games and DVDs (54%) and cinema tickets (53%), while just under half are buying electrical items and gadgets (44%). Food and drink products are the least popular, with only 12% buying on

their smartphone. Overall 7 in 10 smartphone users shop with their devices.

The research also highlighted that smartphones have an important role to play in pre-purchase research. For example, despite only 27% of smartphone shoppers using their devices to purchase fashion good, 42% will do their research with a smartphone, by searching products, comparing prices and reading reviews.

Similarly with gadgets and electricals, 57% will use their smartphone to research products, with 44% going on to purchase on their phone.

These results come from Omnico research of 1,344 UK consumers to find out how shoppers use their smartphones, compared to shopping via their laptops or instore. While the preference is still to purchase in-store or via their laptops or tablet devices, Omnico believes that mobile will play an increasingly large role.

“More and more shoppers are turning to their smartphones to browse and make

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everyday purchases.” says Steve Thomas, chief technology officer, Omnico. “We believe that retailers need to embrace this new wave of shoppers and not leave mobile on the peripheral of their retail strategy. Consumers don’t see shopping on their smartphone as a siloed experienced, so why should retailers? Those that provide a seamless experience and integrate the shopper’s basket, loyalty scheme and so on are better placed to succeed in the omni-channel world.

“While our research highlights that products like food and drink, DIY goods and holidays aren’t particularly popular to purchase via smartphones, it’s important to remember that when internet shopping first started, it was through areas like books, games and DVDs, with other areas following on. Likewise, we see that trend being replicated in the mobile world: retailers without an integrated mobile strategy risk being left behind,” continues Steve Thomas.

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NEWS

#RETAIL Thomas Pink rolls out digital vouchers with Eagle Eye thomas pink has implemented a digital vouchering platform with Eagle Eye Solutions providing online and in store complete digital issuance and redemption across its UK, European and US markets in multiple currencies.

Eagle Eye is the leading platform for digital issuance and redemption of gift vouchers, promotion vouchers, coupons and offers. The solution enables a reduction in production and handling costs, improved insight into usage and redemption and provides an innovative and enhanced customer experience in buying and redeeming vouchers.

The project involved the delivery of a separate website for each of the three geographical regions in the appropriate currency denominations allowing individuals to purchase digital vouchers online for themselves or as gifts for others. Customers can opt to have unique gift codes delivered via SMS text (UK and Europe) or email (all regions)

instantaneously or at a future date (for example to arrive on a birthday or other special occasion).

Vouchers can be paid for via normal card payment methods or PayPal, which is fully integrated into the Eagle Eye platform. Vouchers can be fully or partially redeemed online through the Thomas Pink ecommerce site (www. thomaspink.com) or in store at the point of sale. To provide a consistent customer experience existing unredeemed plastic vouchers have been added to the system so that on redemption customers will get the same enhanced experience.

The Eagle Eye solution provides a secure solution for voucher issuance and redemption that eliminates fraud.

Other benefits include complete financial management information and a full management platform for monitoring email and text non delivery and the seamless management of refunds.

#GAMING Innovative social gambling platform aims to be ‘game changer’ this month marked the official launch of new social gambling platform, TradeFight. This industry game changer brings gambling and financial trading together in a unique and innovative way by allowing players to challenge each other and best on real financial data which powers the TradeFight games.

The first of its kind, TradeFight offers three different games based on live feeds from the financial markets; Trade Fight, Speed Trade and soon to launch, The Predictor. The popular, Trade Fight, sees players challenge one another to a head-to-head contest. Once the challenge is accepted, players have 5 minutes to trade in a live market with $1,000 virtual cash. The player who has the highest sum after the contest is over, wins the fight and the bet. This unique concept is a safe and exciting way to gamble and play like a real trader as the use of virtual currency means players are only risking the bet

that is placed.

By delivering great odds, high returns and engaging high quality graphics, Speed Trade is based on the market movements in the next 30 seconds.

This simple yet exciting game requires the player to think fast and trust their instinct with the initial stake starting from as little at €0.50. To add to this innovate portfolio TradeFight will soon be launching The Predictor, a 3 reel, 3 line slot with a progressive jackpot.

Commenting on this exciting development, TradeFight COO, Afshin R. Ertanin has said “Of all my previous years in the online industry I have never worked with anything like this. The platform is one of a kind, creating a desire for something different from the usual gaming offerings and also creating simple and fun games based on the financial markets, furthering its unique offering. We are really looking forward to watching this grow and become an industry leader.”

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OPINION

FROM THE EDITOR

The all new face of the web for 2014 The world is becoming evermore mobile centric, finds the latest round of studies to round up 2013. But, what it really marks a change in is the web and how we use it, not the devices, believes Paul Skeldon as 2013 draws to a close, we can safely say that this will be the last year that I have to write that people buy stuff on mobile. Hopefully, when we are all feeling reflective in December 2014 it will be taken as read that people like to buy things with their mobile phones.

According to the third annual MEF Mobile Media study – which did talk to 10,000 people in 13 different countries – this is now a global phenomenon. 65% of those surveyed have bought things via their mobile device and the average spend per user is going up. High spend purchases (over $151 or equivalent) jumped to 39 per cent with low spend items (under $15.99 or equivalent) at 37 per cent dropping from 43 per cent in 2012. ‘High spenders’ are most prolific in Nigeria, Mexico and Kenya reflecting the mobile-first ecosystems in these regions.

Digital goods, spurred by the growth in freemium business models and in-app purchases still dominate this area of mobile content and commerce. However the research reveals a decline in the volume of purchases for the first time – from 54 per cent of mobile media users in 2012 to 42 per cent in 2013. Globally, there is a growing trend towards purchasing physical and perishable goods with 25 per cent of users happy to shop on mobile for these items.

The comprehensive study, now in its third year, analyses both developed and growth markets namely Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Qatar, South Africa, UAE, UK and US. It identifies a discernable shift in the purchasing of digital goods as consumers embrace an era of Mobile 3.0.

This is characterised by a new breed of super apps that are displacing one off purchases - for music or video for example - with longer term subscription based services or apps and games offering months of immersive gameplay, typifying in-app purchase business models and long term player engagement. This is not limited to developed markets; the report found a significant number of consumers in growth market regions are moving past the premium content phase and into a space defined by smartphones and apps.

However, Consumer Trust remains a significant barrier to increased adoption and purchasing behaviour and is a growing concern for consumers. In the 2013 Global Consumer Survey, 40 per cent of consumers cite Trust as an issue compared with 35 per cent in 2012 and 27 per cent in 2011.

So what does this all mean? According to the MEF, the study clearly shows the emergence of Mobile 3.0 – where mobile is the, in MEF Chairman Andrew Bud’s words, “the primary tool for engagement and transaction in consumers’ digital lives, creating exciting new opportunities and challenges”.

I think that more it shows that mobile is really now the de facto way in which people use the web. It just so happens that that is commerce based (and social media based). To my mind, as we race towards 2014, its not so much Mobile 3.0 as the newest iteration of the web and it is time we started thinking like that rather than thinking mobile.

Editorial Editor Paul Skeldon paulskeldon@me.com | Sales & Marketing info@telemediamagazine.com | Production Director Annika Micheli annika@telemediamagazine.com | Publisher Jarvis Todd jarvis@telemediamagazine.com To subscribe, please go to www.telemedia-news.com What we’ve been listening to Come Home –Chappo | What we’ve been amused by The Fraggles | Who we’ve been following @Mrskeldon | What we’ve been reading about Nelson Mandela| December 2013 will bring... a fat man coming down your chimney

ANALYSIS

Direct carrier billing

Billing comes of age

IN CANADA

Canada has embraced and is rapidly adopting the payment method. In this article, Canada’s DCB market is explored by Martin Grace VP of Sales and Marketing at Triton Global, who contends that the market is largely uniform, offers considerable opportunity for recurring revenues and delivers strong conversions with low to negligible refunds

while there is a general consensus that the USA direct carrier billing (DCB) market is somewhat fractured and suffering from protracted implementation timelines, the same is not the case with its neighbor to the north. .

Navigating through global DCB payments is a difficult and often complicated process that is not well understood and continuously evolves requiring dedicated teams to monitor and manage compliancy and regulatory aspects of the service.

By contrast the Canadian market for DCB has significant clarity and offers a large active market opportunity of almost 25 million subscribers accessed by this relatively new billing pattern. The carriers have collectively agreed on very similar client application and on boarding processes and equally agreed on transaction spend caps which makes for a ubiquitous set of price points across all participating carriers. Transaction price points supported range from $0.01 to $50.00 CAD and any price within this range can be set on a dynamic basis.

Canadian Carriers supporting this payment method are Bell, Rogers, TELUS and their affiliates which collectively represent almost 93% of the entire mobile subscriber market.

Consumer protection is a prominent concern and in all cases an advice of charge must clearly be communicated to the

service user. This is currently communicated by a text message which shows the amount that is to be charged and the user must respond “allow” or “deny” for the transaction to be processed. Due to this consumer protection process and the few simple steps on the part of the consumer, conversion rates for DCB in Canada are in the range of 77% to 84% with virtually no refunds. This represents an excellent outcome for all stakeholders. Consumers are provided with consistency and clarity of charges and their “warm body” acceptance of the transaction mitigates disputes.

Carriers are equally embracing the payment method as low to no refunds means little or no calls to their contact centers with attendant strong brand enhancement and minimal revenue leakage. Clients are very pleased with strong recurring revenue streams, negligible refunds and the powerful conversion rates delivered by DCB. Such outcomes and results were never possible with previous, often deliberately ambiguous PSMS payment regimes in Canada. By stark contrast DCB, which already, even in these early days of adoption ,points to a vibrant emerging industry with strong foundations build on trust, high ethical standards and a process that works with ease, consistency and convenience.

Client on boarding is well defined and well structured and does not suffer from the often protracted timelines experi-

ANALYSIS Direct carrier billing

enced in other markets. The process is based on the value delivered to the consumer and not reliant on known brands, as is often the case in other markets. Traditional markets for carrier billing such as games and social media are generally approvable, however the appetite across the Canadian carriers for more mainstream content and services is noticeable and there is general consensus that the higher the value the more acceptable the program and therefore the greater the support will be. While payouts are still not at the level experienced in some European countries there are positive indications that this will change in tandem with higher value applications. Certainly, the more mainstream the application the higher the likelihood of a reduced share on the part of the carrier.

Both WEB payment and in app payment flows are supported by DCB in Canada for both onetime transactions and subscriptions. Subscriptions are accomplished with a new transaction being pushed to the consumer on the anniversary date, which must be accepted on the part of the consumer.

This is somewhat of a departure from conventional subscriptions but necessary to achieve approval across all participating carriers.

Global payment providers can now access a market that while not as populous as other markets, is significantly larger

that many European DCB markets. Furthermore, since Canada has strong connections, especially because of its ethnic European origins, it represents a market that will appeal to European clients who are looking to expand local DCB offerings.

If the service works in Europe or Australia, or any commonwealth country, then, it will also likely succeed in Canada.

Direct carrier billing in Canada is therefore a clean, untarnished, successful and sustainable billing option and represents a highly attractive and lucrative market for payment providers, service providers and content and application publishers.

Those who say that mobile payments is not yet a reality or mainstream in Canada have totally overlooked the traction and momentum of direct carrier billing. Due mainly to the exponential adoption of smartphones and tablets, it has gained widespread consumer acceptance as an easy, convenient and safe way to pay for a transaction. This is especially the case for apps, content and products that are naturally consumed on such mobile devices.

In summary, with access to a significant population of mobile subscribers, flexible and dynamic price points across all major carriers, coupled with high conversions and minimal refunds, Canada represents a very attractive market for DCB Payments.

Shaking up the

PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM M-payments is going to be the hot topic of 2014, but what is it really all about? Tom Conlon, VP of Marketing and Business Development, VeriFone EMEA, takes a look at some of the trends the arrival of m-Commerce has broadened the definition of “Merchant” within the marketplace. And with Visa predicting that 52 million mobile payments will be made per month by end of 2013, it is clear that mobile commerce is thriving. This statistic also highlights that the payment ecosystem is changing. The days of simple card or cash payments are long gone. In its place are innovative payment methods that reach across payment channels, push boundaries and offer a new experience to consumers.

This is further fuelled by the arrival of virtual wallets that

are bridging the gap between ‘online’ and ‘offline’. As a result, tomorrow’s consumers - equipped with multiple wallets, apps and programs - will come to merchants expecting to ‘pay AND play’.

But how do retailers address this changing ecosystem?

What will be the most popular payment methods, and how can these help drive consumers to sales points? These are some of the difficult questions that merchants are facing when planning future investment.

ANALYSIS m-Payments

Rise of mobile payments The number of UK smartphone users continues to grow rapidly. In fact, this year there will be 30.9 million smartphone users in the UK, representing 48.4% of UK residents and 60.4% of UK mobile phone users (eMarKeter 2013). Already, one in five UK consumers use their mobile to make payments, according to the UK Payments Council. As consumers become more and more reliant on their smart phones, there is no doubt that mobile payments will continue to increase.

The potential of mobile payments as a sales channel is clear. It allows retailers the opportunity to connect with consumers, to utilise customer data and target discounts, vouchers and loyalty schemes in order drive footfall and ultimately revenue. With mobile browsers, online retailers are no longer restricted to the desktop. They need to be able to appeal to consumers on the move with web-platforms that are optimized for mobile browsers.

Despite this growth, mobile payments have also been hit by issues such as a security, lack of infrastructure and complexity that has halted adoption. In order for mobile payments to continue to grow, online and traditional retailers must implement simple and secure services, while still making sure payments are accepted quickly and easily.

NFC and contactless payments NFC and contactless payments have also changed the payment ecosystem. Establishing itself as one of the most exciting and innovative ways to pay. A recent report by ABI Research revealed that in 2013 alone, 285 million NFC enabled devices will be shipped. With the report also forecasting that NFC will reach $100bn global enabled payments by 2016, it is clear that NFC is at the heart of revolutionising the retail experience, and is capable of delivering unprecedented value to merchants.

However, in order for contactless and NFC to continue to grow, retailers must make sure that the infrastructure is in place to accept these payments at the point of sale (PoS).

They must also eliminate fragmentation and provide a seamless experience for the consumer. Only then can the true value of NFC and contactless be realised.

The mobile wallet It can be argued that the digital or mobile wallet offers more than any other payment option. As payments converge with loyalty schemes and reward programmes, retailers can use mobile wallets to leverage customer data to drive people instore or to their websites.

With a plethora of mobile wallets available to consumers from providers such as Isis, Google, Square, Samsung and Microsoft, an integrated multi-channel approach has never been more vital. Once again, convincing consumers that security can be trusted will play a powerful role in driving adoption of mobile wallets.

Complexity and collaboration – a multichannel approach Merchants are looking for a commerce solution to help them stay competitive. At the same time they are under pressure to provide a complete payment experience – eliminating complexities while still providing the choice, flexibility, security, support and cost control needed. Retailers are also faced with the challenge of being equipped to accept the myriad of payment solutions now available. Whether online, via a smart phone or in-store, retailers must be able to accept them all in order to maximise revenue.

But it doesn’t stop at acceptance. Platforms must also be able to redeem mobile vouchers and e-loyalty points, as well as, exploit mobile services to get them closer to their customer to reduce basket walkaways and keep them loyal.

Payments as a service platforms may be the solution as they take the guesswork and complexity out of managing multiple payment channels, promotional technologies and meeting regulatory standards.

Implementing a payments as a service approach allows merchants to reduce CAPEX by offering a fixed regular OPEX-based fee structure, whilst also providing quick and easy integration using proven solutions. It reduces risk and compliance costs, ensuring the latest security, certifications and processes. Critically it offers retailers choice and flexibility with cross-selling and upselling tools through value added applications and service. With increasing competition between retailers on the high street and online platforms, removing complexity and embrace a multichannel payments as a service platform can no longer be ignored.

Blurring boundaries As retail continues to evolve, the boundaries between physical and online channels are blurring. Most retailers offer more than one channel to the marketplace which in turn creates a new set of integration challenges and a greater need for complicity and collaboration.

Put simply, making sure that payments can be accepted, and that the infrastructure supporting payments is looped together, should be the highest priority to retailers. To utilise the changing payments ecosystem, retailers must remove the fragmentation and confusion that is halting adoption, close the acceptance loop and provide a seamless experience for the consumer. It is this approach combined with a payments as a service solution that will meet the needs of both consumers and retailers in an increasingly mobile world.

ANALYSIS

Gamification

Why brands should try

Something new

Oscar Diele, Chief Marketing Officer at Spil Games, looks at why a change of emphasis away from TV might be good news for brands and retailers need this festive season the lead up to Christmas and subsequent January sales period is traditionally a time when brands look for deep engagement with family audiences. But gaining cut through against so many other products fighting for the same attention can be a huge struggle.

Entertainment has always been the biggest vehicle through which brands have strived to reach this target audience. And within that, TV has, until recently, ruled supreme, providing a mass audience and a wide range of targeted content – whether that be sport, soaps, drama, kids entertainment etc.

TV has always provided huge audiences that are emotionally engaged with that content. And in turn that content has grown to develop a symbiotic relationship with the brands that ultimately support it. Commercial breaks are the perfect opportunity within programmes to build cliff-hanger moments that keep people glued to their screens, and these same moments allow brands to leap in when their target audience is in a receptive state.

However, in the past few years things have started to change. The TV screen is no longer the sole family focal point, as audiences have swarmed online in their millions. This growth is being fuelled further by the explosion of tablets and mobile devices.

And what’s the content they are consuming the most? The answer here is simple: digital video. Currently video accounts for over half of all internet traffic and, according to Cisco Systems, this is expected to rise to between 80% to 90% by 2017.

Brands have not been slow on the uptake here, and are now looking at ways to capture the attention of this illusive and much sought-after audience. This is evidenced through the increase in the amount of money now being spent on digital video advertising, predominantly at the expense of TV budgets. Of course, TV is still huge but the balance is shifting.

Yet, while our perceptions of entertainment are changing and budgets shifting, brands are still struggling with where to run their digital video ad content in order to best target this broad and engaged audience. YouTube is a great example of where video ads work well, but there is not enough long-form content. Advertisers and agencies are also seeking out other perceived “premium” sites such as established news and magazine titles, but again these sites offer shorter dwell time and an audience that is often not in the right frame of mind to receive (or act on) advertising messages.

Other areas like social media also fail to match up, as they don’t offer the “lean-in” factor or the duration per session. On

top of that many people see ads on social networks as being intrusive. It’s their “me time” and they don’t want brands shouting over their private conversations.

This is where gaming comes into its own. In many ways it exists in a parallel universe to TV; the content is diverse and it’s targeted to different types of audiences. Not only that, but the data analysis that can be run behind the scenes on people playing online games, means audience profiling can be refined to a degree that TV could only dream of. This leads to more relevant ads being presented to players and ultimately a more rewarding experience delivered for all parties.

Timing wise gaming sites are also perfect for video advertising, with players’ dwell times averaging over 30 minutes a session – easily long enough to slot in a couple of video ads.

Furthermore, gaming offers huge audiences – for example, Spil Games sees around 180 million active monthly users across its platforms.

And players are equally as emotionally engaged with these games as they are with TV shows, often repeatedly playing the same ones. Gaming also offers a “lean in” experience rather than a “sit back” experience, which means not only are gamers in a happy relaxed mode, but they are also actively influencing the outcome of what they are doing – something TV does not do. Plus, of course, they have natural “cliffhanger” moments within gameplay for the ads to run; either between games or between levels.

Yet, here brands have been almost inexplicably slow on the uptake. The upside to this, however, is that gaining cut through is comparatively straightforward. In a recent gaming conference in London, Nadya Powell, UK managing director of social communications MRY and a staunch advocate of gaming as a media channel, summed up the current position and opportunity, “Gaming is a huge part of people’s online activities; it is the most popular activity on tablets and second most popular on smartphones, and it offers huge reach and engagement,” she said. “Yet the budgets assigned to gaming by brands is less than 1% of total digital spend. The numbers just don’t add up.”

While your target audience is doing a lot of things, one of the things they are doing most is playing games online and on their mobile devices. So, this festive season, rather than worrying about whether your TV ads are hitting their mark, why not make a difference to your campaign by targeting your audience where you know they’ll be listening and watching?

But remember online gaming is not just for Christmas…

ANALYSIS Gamificaiton

And while we are talking about gamification, here’s a little Yuletide puzzle for you... Help Santa find his reindeer.... Merry Christmas

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