Special: Mobile Commerce Providers Guide, page 12
Transaction trends The Official Publication of the Electronic Transactions Association
| October 2012
Get an inside look at potential business partners in our second annual Mobile Commerce Providers Guide
ALSO INSIDE: Payments Go Social Simplifying the MSP Value Proposition
Who’s Who
in mobile commerce
You may not have access to these solutions, but we do. Don’t lose your next deal because you didn’t offer the right functionality.
CONNECT WITH SPARKBASE TO BECOME AN AFFILIATE. Refer large merchants to us, we’ll sell them the right technology, then send you the residuals.
Transaction trends The Official Publication of the Electronic Transactions Association
Vol. 17 | No. 10
cover story 12 Special: Who’s Who in Mobile Commerce
By Bryan Ochalla Transaction Trends’ second annual Mobile Commerce Providers Guide features players in the $172-billion mobile payments industry. Identify the key participants in this space, and find out who provides opportunities for business partnerships.
12
FEATURES 28 Social Payments: “Like”
32 S P E C I A L S E R I E S
Startup Stories: A New Lease on Life
By Julie Ritzer Ross New payment options that leverage social networks are emerging, paving the way for the convergence of mobile payments and mobile loyalty. Merchants are refining their strategies to leverage consumer choice and customization options.
By John Manasso After restructuring to encourage involvement among all of its members, COCARD has increased revenues while attracting new ISOs to join the cooperative.
6
depar tmentS 4
ETA Gateway
6
Industry News
8
Future of the Business
Insights from ETA’s CEO, Jason Oxman Trends, strategies, and news in the payments business and ETA member community
35 Ad Index 36 Industry Insider
CHARGE Anywhere has expanded services to include a host of solutions that solve merchant problems
MSPs that simplify their processes and embrace a vertical integration approach will appeal to their merchant customers Transaction trends | October 2012 3
ETA Gateway
Making Our Mark on the Future of Payments
G
reetings from ETA! In my three months on the job, I’ve had a chance to meet with dozens of ETA member companies as I travelled to Salt Lake City, Omaha, and Atlanta to meet our members and hear your thoughts on our industry. One consistent theme: You want to learn more about ETA activities, events, and happenings. And so one important change in Transaction Trends that you’ll notice this month is we’re talking more about what your trade association—ETA—is doing to help grow your business. As always, I am eager to hear from our members—you, the reader —to learn what ETA can and should be doing to grow our industry. My door, or email, is always open. I have joined ETA at a unique and exciting moment in our history.What we are witnessing is nothing less than a fundamental transformation of the electronic transactions industry. I’m speaking about the brave new world of mobile payments, which offers huge growth opportunities for all ETA members. Indeed, the rate of growth has been so fast that, as an industry, it’s all we can do to just
Editorial Policy: The Electronic Transactions Association, founded in 1990, is a not-for-profit organization representing entities who provide transaction services between merchants and settlement banks and others involved in the electronic transactions industry. Our purpose is to provide leadership in the industry through education, advocacy, and the exchange of information. The magazine acts as a moderator without approving, disapproving, or guaranteeing the validity or accuracy of any data, claim, or opinion appearing under a byline or obtained or quoted from an acknowledged source. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official view of the Electronic Transactions Association. Also, appearance of advertisements and new product or service information does not constitute an endorsement of products or services featured by the Association. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is provided and disseminated with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional services. If legal advice and other expert assistance are required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Transaction Trends (ISSN 1939-1595) is the official publication, published monthly, of the Electronic Transactions Association, 1101 16th St. N.W., Suite 402, Washington, DC 20036; 800/695-5509 or 202/828-2635; 202/828-2639 fax. Postage paid at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the address noted above. Copyright © 2012 The Electronic Transactions Association. All Rights Reserved, including World Rights and Electronic Rights. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission from the publisher, nor may any part of this publication be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or copied by mechanical photocopying, recording, or other means, now or hereafter invented, without permission of the publisher.
4 October 2012 | Transaction trends
keep up. But explosive growth also presents difficult challenges and many, many unanswered questions. As the public face of the industry, ETA is responsible to help solve these challenges and answer these questions for our members, for merchants, for consumers, and for government regulators.Whatever form or direction mobile payments takes in the coming years, it must never fail to meet the standards consumers and merchants have come to expect for all electronic transactions: secure, reliable, and efficient. This is why one of my first acts as ETA’s new CEO was to work with member companies to form the Mobile Payments Committee.With more than 45 ETA member companies participating, including new technology member companies like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint,T-Mobile, and Google, ETA’s Mobile Payments Committee is charged with developing industrywide solutions to the complex policy and business concerns surrounding the emergence of mobile payments in the U.S. and globally. ETA’s Mobile Payments Committee first met at the end of August and our inaugural meeting was a huge success.
We committed ourselves to building a mobile payments infrastructure that can facilitate growth within the industry while also protecting consumers and merchants. Federal regulators are taking a keener interest in the electronic payments infrastructure than they ever have before.We should welcome Washington’s interest in our industry, but we also should strive to anticipate their concerns and, where possible, solve them ourselves. And so, the Committee agreed to formulate educational materials that will help officials understand the unique policy issues confronting the industry. (Find more updates on the Committee and other association news on page 7.) Finally, I want to thank all ETA members for welcoming me with such warmth and cooperation. I’m humbled by the opportunity that has been given to me. I look forward to working with all ETA members as we embark on such a transformative period in our industry. Regards, Jason Oxman Jason Oxman is the CEO of ETA.
Electronic Transactions Association 1101 16th Street NW, Suite 402 Washington, DC 20036 202/828.2635 www.electran.org ETA CEO Jason Oxman Deputy Director/COO Pamela Furneaux Director, Education and Professional Development Rori Ferensic Director, Government and Industry Relations Mary Weaver Bennett Director, Membership and Marketing Del Baker Robertson Transaction Trends Publishing office: Stratton Publishing & Marketing Inc. 5285 Shawnee Road, Suite 510 Alexandria, VA 22312 703/914.9200
Publisher Debra Stratton Associate Publisher & Editor Josephine Rossi Contributing Editor Angela Hickman Brady Editorial/Production Associate Christine Umbrell Art Director Janelle Welch Contributing Writers Lia Dangelico, John Manasso, Bryan Ochalla, Julie Ritzer Ross, and George Peabody Advertising Sales Steve Schwanz or Fox Associates (800/440.0232; adinfo.eta@foxrep.com) Fox Associates Offices Chicago 312/644.3888 New York 212/725.2106 Detroit 248/626.0511 Phoenix 480/538.5021 Los Angeles 805/522.0501 Atlanta 800/440.0231
Isis allows consumers to carry their credit cards, loyalty cards and offers all on their smartphones. Then, in-store, submit everything with a simple tap at the point of sale using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. With the support of three of the four major wireless carriers, the four major U.S. payment networks, leading card issuers and hundreds of forward-thinking merchants, we have the scale to drive widespread consumer adoption. So all that’s missing is you. Bring the Isis Mobile Wallet to your merchants, and bring more customers into their stores. TM
TM
Learn more at paywithisis.com or reach us by email at partners@paywithisis.com Isis, Isis Mobile Wallet, Pay Smarter, Isis Cash and the associated Isis logos are trademarks of JVL Ventures, LLC. Š 2012 JVL Ventures, LLC.
INDuSTRYnews Major Retailers Partner to Develop Mobile Wallet A group of large merchants, including Walmart, Target, 7-Eleven, and Sunoco, has announced its partnership to develop a mobile-payments network to rival the offerings of Google and other companies. The companies are proceeding based on the premise that shoppers will eventually be as comfortable making payments with their mobile devices as they are now with credit and debit cards. At this time, mobile payment technology continues to surge, with some reports predicting transactions will total more than $600 billion by 2016. The group, called Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, is still in the early stages of planning, and is said to be ironing out financial details and a launch date, and pursuing a CEO.
Facebook Launches Carrier-Billed Mobile Payments
Facebook is now accepting mobile payments via carrier billing in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. The service, provided by mobile web payments and analytics company Bango, will be expanded to other countries during the remainder of 2012. Facebook users now can purchase digital content without the use of premium SMS messages or credit cards. Bango claims its single-click system re-
sult is significantly higher rates of collection—77 percent compared to roughly 40 percent among conventional operator billings. Bango has become the payments platform for several app stores, including Blackberry App World, Opera Mobile Store, and operator-led connections to Google Play. It also has announced an agreement with Amazon and MasterCard’s PayPass mobile wallet.
fast FACT
Mobile payment transactions are predicted to reach $1.3 trillion by 2017—a fourfold increase—according to a recent report by Juniper Research.
Visa to Launch Point-to-Point Encryption Service Visa has announced it will launch a new service called Visa Merchant Data Secure with Point-to-Point Encryption that will enable acquirers and merchants to better protect payment card data. According to a press release, the service addresses several key merchant and acquirer concerns about encryption: • minimal impact to payment processing systems • consistent, open encryption standard • multi-zone encryption. Available in early 2013, the service comes as a part of the company’s larger strategy to improve payment information security.
6 October 2012 | Transaction trends
News from the association
New Members
AROUND THE HORN Afshin Yazdian has joined American Bancard LLC as president to continue the company’s expansion and growth and further development of its POS technology. Apriva has launched the Apriva Customer Education (ACE) portal, a self-help and customer support portal. CardWare has introduced POSitivity, its modular POS solution for main street merchants. CreditCall has launched its new mobile POS application, CardEase Mobile, now available worldwide. CSR announced the addition of an ACH payment option for data breach reporting and PCI compliance services. Meritus Payment Solutions has announced its integration with OrderLogix to expand its reach into direct response, e-commerce, and multichannel retail industries, and also has brought on Jon Lindhjem as vice president of business development and Jason VanWagoner as director of business development. Through a partnership with Vivo, PayPal has launched a new mobile payment that eliminates the need for Internet connection to complete payments. Payscape Advisors was recognized on the 2012 Inc. 500/5000 List for the fourth consecutive year. Payvia Inc. has launched its next-generation mobile payments platform and agreements with Sprint and T-Mobile USA.
ETA is pleased to welcome the following companies to its membership. To inquire about a membership with ETA, please contact Del Baker Robertson, director of membership and marketing, at dbaker@electran.org. BilltoMobile San Jose, CA www.billtomobile.com Buckley Sandler LLP www.buckleysandler.com Firethorn Mobile Atlanta, GA www.firethorn.com Google Mountain View, CA www.google.com Groupon Chicago, IL www.groupon.com
MobiSquad (formerly Entrust Bankcard) Mesa, AZ www.mobisquad.com NewNet Communication Technologies Hawthorn Woods, IL www.newnet.com Payfone San Jose, CA http://payfone.com/ payvia Los Angeles, CA www.usepayvia.com
Placecast San Francisco, CA www.placecast.net Sprint Nextel Washington, DC www.sprint.com Tabbedout Austin, TX www.tabbedout.com ValidSoft London, UK www.validsoft.com Zumigo San Jose, CA www.zumigo.com
CALENDAR : n 2012 Strategic
Leadership Forum The Breakers Palm Beach, FL October 16-18, 2012 www2.electran.org/slf12/ n 2012 Compliance Day
Sheraton DFW Airport Hotel Irving, TX November 13-14, 2012 Register online at www.electran.org.
Details: The E-Newsletter of the Electronic Transactions Association
n Silicon Valley Day
ETA has introduced Details, the association’s official membership e-newsletter. This monthly update will keep members informed on legislative developments, industry news, member additions, and upcoming events. For more information contact Del Baker Robertson, director of membership and marketing, at dbaker@electran.org.
San Francisco, CA November 15, 2012 For details, contact Rori Ferensic, 202.828.2635 x205, or rferensic@electran.org.
Transaction trends | October 2012 7
ISO Corner Future of the Business
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
Rethinking the MSP value proposition with merchantfocused vertical integration By George Peabody
T
his may come as a shock: For retailers and other merchants selling goods and services, the process of taking payments is ancillary to their main line of business; payment acceptance is the merchant services provider’s (MSP’s) business. For most merchants, in the best case, electronic payments are viewed as a cost of doing business. At worst, because of a nagging sense that the process costs too much, payment services are viewed as an ongoing source of irritation. For the MSP, the challenge of adding value to the process contributes to increased churn as retailers look for better pricing and better value. As Henry David Thoreau said,“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify!” Complexity has its costs. For the retailer, payment acceptance is one of those innumerable details that requires a long list of often complex tasks. POS systems, most of which are built on Windows-based PCs, require maintenance. Receipt printers demand consumables as well as maintenance. For restaurant and bar operators, dedicated touchscreen devices and the software to drive them add high functionality, but also complexity and cost. Dedicated POS terminals may be highly reliable devices, but when it comes to upgrades for new functionality or to meet new security standards, either a lengthy upgrade process or a complete replacement of the device—or both—is required.
But there’s more. For retailers, the added complexity includes communications cabling and a reliable Internet connection. Check and cash acceptance also bring challenges. More sophisticated merchants who use loyalty cards or couponing solutions have to contract for those services separately, often with a third party that’s separate from the payment services provider. And don’t forget PCI with its technical solutions, noncompliance fees, and self-assessment questionnaires. 8 October 2012 | Transaction trends
“Simplify, simplify, simplify” is the new payment services mantra. The industry’s initial response to this problem has been solution aggregation.Value-added resellers (VARs) and systems providers, such as MICROS, Radiant, and scores of others, have added payment acceptance to their line of business solutions. Many VARs and independent software vendors (ISVs) have partnered with gateway providers to provide bundled solutions for their merchant customers. This model, often based on a local service and support component, is responsible for hundreds of thousands of retailer systems. Another model, enabled by technology and powered by larger players in the payments industry, is now coming forward. Companies like Square Register, Retail Cloud, I Love Velvet, and others simplify the process for the merchant and open opportunity for the vendor.
Changing Economics New technologies—like mobile computing, broadband Internet, and Cloud-based software delivery—are changing the economics underlying both payment acceptance and retailer POS systems. Why do they matter? • Tablets are cheaper than PCs (smartphones are, too).They are already touch-enabled. • Broadband Internet access allows Cloud-based software to operate. • Broadband wireless enables the “app store” method of software distribution. Both make installation of software upgrades and bug fixes almost invisible. Remote maintenance, when needed, also is facilitated. These factors have enabled firms such as Square to deliver allinclusive services that go well beyond simple payment acceptance. Square, via its Register software and aiming up-market from its original mobile micro merchant target, is providing the small merchant with a competent cash register, inventory, and POS system. Square provides the hardware and transaction services. For hardware, Square points the merchant to a PC Connection site for the receipt printer and cash drawer, at $279 and $101, respectively. GoPago, an even newer entrant, is taking the bundled approach a big step further with its LIVE service that bundles payment acceptance with an Android tablet, store automation software that includes payments and inventory, a physical cash drawer, receipt printer, and a broadband wireless connection from Verizon Wireless, all for 2.85 percent of the transaction, with no other monthly fees and no hardware costs. At approximately $900 in free hardware and $100 or more in annual broadband costs, it’s a good deal for the right merchant—not only on price but also on complexity (or, rather, simplicity).
Meet Larry Jones. VP of Sales
Larry understands what makes a successful ISO. Fast merchant boarding process Personal Relationship Management Team committed to your business Better pricing models to stay competitive in the industry Online Application and Agent Dashboard Reporting Superior products to compete in the marketplace
Larry recognizes that every ISO is unique. Custom fit partnership to meet your business needs Multi-processing platforms ISO branding program Business funding options
Larry knows the value of leadership. Partner with industry veterans Over 100+ years of industry experience shared among key MCPS leaders
Larry knows that Merchants’ Choice is your only true ISO partner. Get to know Larry! 800.478.9367 ext. 5 ljones@mcpscorp.com
ISO Corner Future of the Business
Controlling the Supply Chain In almost every industry, the business model has swung from horizontal to vertical integration. During the late 19th century and part of the 20th, steel manufacturers controlled iron ore mines, or transportation systems, as well as the steel-making process. Later, the pendulum swung to more horizontal integration, with steel makers buying ore from mining companies and contracting for other services. The same swing is occurring in information technology. Vertical integration is a growing force. Apple’s profitability is, among other things, a function of its willingness to manage and control its entire supply chain and, just like those steel makers, right down to the mine, sourcing aluminum for the iPhone’s case. Apple controls software distribution through the App Store, controls payments through iTunes, and writes the operating system software its hardware runs on.That’s vertical integration. Evolving beyond the VAR model—where an independent distributor assembles, sells, and services a handful of major components—vertical integration for retailer payments means going beyond just payments. These technology-driven attributes are not lost on those with a stake in the payments business. Chase Paymentech is backing GoPago with aggressive pricing that enables GoPago, to some extent, to offer its service, and included bundled hardware, at a flat transaction rate only marginally higher than that of Square. It wouldn’t be a big step for an acquiring processor to acquire a solution like GoPago. It would certainly be an increase in the verti-
Processing Network
The
everywhereProcessingNetworkSM
10 October 2012 | Transaction trends
cal integration, and consolidation, of the merchant services industry. Of course, these Internet-based approaches are vulnerable competitively when it comes to customer service. A direct sales model cuts a major cost center but customer service and training capability are necessary, especially in this era of high business failure and low rates of business formation. Very few “green field” opportunities exist. Existing data needs to be moved to the new scheme—rarely a hands-off exercise. Clerk training cannot always be accomplished by snippets of video (although it is remarkable how well that works). In other words, as complexity increases, the need for customer service and training increases—no matter how elegant a tabletbased touchscreen may be. But if a solution is well designed, complexity falls away and usage increases. Just look at Apple and consider what Square is trying to do. MSPs who take the admonition to “simplify, simplify, simplify” to heart and to their merchant customers will win.The focus has to be on delivering services that improve the merchant’s top and bottom lines. Payments acceptance alone is no longer a function that can do both. There has to be more to the MSP value proposition. Taking a vertical integration approach is one way to expand that value. TT George Peabody is director, emerging technologies advisory service, for Mercator Advisory Group in Maynard, Massachusetts. Reach him at gpeabody@ mercatoradvisorygroup.com.
SecureNet.
Everyone Else. Which payment system would you rely on to deliver increased revenue to your merchants? With over $12 billion in annual transactions and more than 14,000 merchants nationwide, SecureNet Payment Systems offers everything from traditional payment processing to the most cost-effective eCommerce solutions available. Welcome to your ultimate all-in-one payment platform. Welcome to SecureNet. Learn more about our affordable, full-service products at SecureNet.com
Š2012 SecureNet. SecureNet. All Allrights rightsreserved. reserved.
Transaction trends | October 2012 11
[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ]
Who’s Who
in Mobile Commerce Second annual Mobile Commerce Providers Guide highlights the players in this $172-billion industry By Bryan Ochalla
A
re mobile payments hitting their stride? Developments over the past few weeks and months seem to point in that direction, including Starbucks’ partnership with and investment in Square, and the creation of ETA’s Mobile Payments Committee, which features AT&T, Verizon, Sprint,T-Mobile, and others in the mobile payments space. Further, new data from Gartner Inc. suggests worldwide mobile payment transactions will surpass $171.5 billion in 2012—which would represent a 61.9 percent increase from 2011 values of $105.9 billion. Data also shows that the number of mobile payment users will reach 212.2 million by the end of this year, up from last year’s 160.5 million. And, an even more eye-opening prediction from Gartner: Global mobile transactions will continue growing by about 42 percent for each of the next four years, with the market worth hitting $617 billion and the user base nearing 450 million by 2016. Then there’s the not-as-easily-quantifiablebut-just-as-noticeable uptick in mobile payments products and providers since this time last year.
12 October 2012 | Transaction trends
Just consider the increased bulk of this year’s Mobile Commerce Providers Guide. Transaction Trends compiled the guide to offer readers a better understanding of the players in this space who provide opportunities for business partnerships. For quick reference, each company’s products and services are classified in up to 11 categories: carriers, carrier billing, loyalty and rewards, mobile acceptance, mobile payments, mobile wallets, P2P payments, POS hardware and handsets, prepaid, promotions and offers, and software.These categories are designated by icons in each listing.Also included is basic contact information as well as details on how each company plans to get its mobile commerce solution to market— via ISOs, directly to merchants, etc. Aside from conducting internal research, Transaction Trends also asked mobile commerce providers to supply more information on their mobile products and services. But despite editors’ best efforts, some information may be incomplete. Our goal with this guide is to provide you with insights on key participants in the market who offer potential partnerships for your business. We hope that you keep it throughout the year and refer to it often.
[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ] Allied Wallet Ltd.
Allied Wallet seeks to simplify global payment processing for merchants and consumers alike. In pursuit of this goal, the Londonbased company is developing a suite of payment products for different types of merchants. These products will include a tokenized payment solution for mobile application developers and an update to its E-Wallet mobile application.
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom Website: alliedwallet.com Year founded: 2002
Allied Wallet has a robust team of resellers and sales representatives that promote its products alongside its marketing department with the aid of its website.
Alpha Card Services
Alpha Card Services offers merchants—especially those in the restaurant and retail space—the mobility, security, and convenience of accepting credit cards through most smartphones and mobile devices, including Android, iPhone, and iPad. The company’s solution can turn a merchant’s smartphone into a mobile processing terminal in a matter of minutes thanks to a free placement reader and downloadable software app.
Headquarters: Huntingdon Valley, PA Website: alphacardservices.com Year founded: 2000
Alpha Card Services sells its mobile payment solution through ISOs and various alliance partners.
American Express
Released last year, American Express’ Serve is a digital platform that lets consumers make purchases and payments both online via mobile phones and, using the Serve prepaid card, anywhere American Express is accepted. Serve offers multiple payment options including P2P, mobile, traditional swipe and online transactions, and the Serve Facebook app, all under a single account.
CB Headquarters: New York, NY Website: serve.com Year founded: 1850
Serve is marketed directly to consumers and merchants as well as through partnerships for Serve integration.
AnywhereCommerce
AnywhereCommerce is a global m-commerce payments technology, engineering, and solutions provider with patented and proprietary suites of hardware, software, and gateway solutions for secure mobile, card-present credit card, PIN debit, Chip and PIN, EMV, and NFC transactions. Its universal aCommerce platform—designed for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile—provides white label and customized application services. Also, its PCI- and EMV-approved devices and bank-grade, secure end–to-end ecosystem provide greater security, reliability, convenience, and return on investment for consumers, merchants, networks, issuers, and acquirers.
Headquarters: Montreal, QC, Canada Website: anywherecommerce.com Year founded: 2006
The aCommerce platform is sold to processors, acquirers, and payment service providers via distributors, ISOs, OEMs, and VARs.
appMobi
appMobi’s 1Touch payment technology enables “single touch” in-app purchases through a highly secure mobile wallet on the device and a few lines of HTML code. Developers add appMobi’s 1Touch to their app to give their users a frictionless way to purchase app content, subscriptions, merchandise, and more.
Headquarters: Lancaster, PA Website: appmobi.com Year founded: 2006
C carrier CB carrier billing loyalty and rewards
14 October 2012 | Transaction trends
1Touch is one of many Cloud services appMobi offers directly to mobile and HTML5 developers to help them maximize and monetize their apps.
mobile acceptance
P2P payments
mobile payments
POS hardware/handsets
mobile wallets
prepaid
promotions and offers software
AppNinjas
With the Swipe mobile payment application from AppNinjas, anyone who conducts business outside a traditional office or retail setting can quickly and easily accept credit card payments on their iPad, iPhone, iPod, or Android device. The simple-to-use app makes it possible for businesses and nonprofits to accept credit cards anywhere.
Headquarters: Dublin, OH Website: appninjas.com Year founded: 2009
Swipe is available for download through the Apple App Store or Google Play. Customers can apply for a merchant account through Swipe on their mobile device.
Apriva
Apriva’s portfolio encompasses gateway services, mobile payment applications, unattended payment solutions, and mobile commerce services. Apriva works with more than 850 distribution partners, as well as all leading payment processors and wireless carriers.
Headquarters: Scottsdale, AZ Website: apriva.com Year founded: 1999
Apriva’s mobile solutions are available through merchant acquirers, ISOs, and financial services providers.
BilltoMobile
With more than a decade of experience and $4 billion-plus in transactions, BilltoMobile is a leader in converting online traffic to mobile billing revenue. With coverage in over 60 countries and 200 carriers, BilltoMobile offers the payment processing services merchants need to monetize a growing global market of billions of mobile consumers.
CB Headquarters: San Jose, CA Website: billtomobile.com Year founded: 2006
BilltoMobile’s services are offered through resellers as well as directly to merchants.
Buck
Buck’s new mobile-first shopping experience extends the reach of brands by streaming products to followers and enabling friends to share products with one another. Buck provides consumers with a simple, single-tap shopping experience, bridging the gap between product discovery and conversion.
Headquarters: Seattle, WA Website: gobuck.com Year founded: 2007
Buck’s service is promoted by publishing partners (print and digital), and sold directly to merchants and brands by Buck.
CHARGE Anywhere
CHARGE Anywhere provides customers with a complete payment acceptance ecosystem, including award-winning, secure POS solutions and a proprietary PCI DSS Level 1 validated payment gateway. CHARGE Anywhere Payment software solutions are designed for use with Windows, QuickBooks, smartphones, tablets, POS terminals, and e-commerce environments.
Headquarters: South Plainfield, NJ Website: chargeanywhere.com Year founded: 2004
The company plans to get its mobile commerce solutions to market via ISOs and financial institutions as well as directly to merchants and software integrators, among other market segments.
Checkgateway
Checkgateway’s ACH electronic check platform can be integrated into most mobile payment offerings, allowing mobile and e-commerce clients to increase both sales and revenue. Merchants can acquire Checkgateway’s solution via ISOs as well as through the company’s technology partners.
Headquarters: Phoenix, AZ Website: checkgateway.com Year founded: 1993
C carrier CB carrier billing loyalty and rewards
mobile acceptance
P2P payments
mobile payments
POS hardware/handsets
mobile wallets
prepaid
promotions and offers software
Transaction trends | October 2012 15
[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ] Cimbal Inc.
Cimbal is a software-driven mobile payment and promotion network. It enables transactions in-store, online, and person-to-person. All data is stored at the Cloud level, so no sensitive information is ever resident on the device or sent across a network. Cimbal expands the point of sale to enable transactions from paper (restaurants, bills) billboards, computer screens, card terminals, newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. Its software also can communicate with NFC chips embedded in a device.
Headquarters: Los Altos, CA Website: cimbal.com Year founded: 2010
Cimbal licenses its platform as a white-label solution to large enterprises for their respective end-user customers.
Datalink Bankcard Services
Headquarters: Richardson, TX Website: datalinkonline.net Year founded: 1989
Datalink Bankcard Services provides a full range of mobile commerce solutions for its customers. The company’s mobile payment applications transform merchants’ mobile phones into complete wireless credit card terminals and reporting devices. Datalink also offers mobile payment peripherals such as audio jack and serial port card readers, receipt printers, and mobile sleeves. Datalink’s products are sold directly to merchants as well as through affiliates, ISOs, and other partners and resellers.
Double Diamond Group LLC
Headquarters: Centennial, CO Website: doublediamondgroup.com Year founded: 2008
eProcessing Network LLC
Double Diamond Group is a consulting firm dedicated to helping clients develop innovative and industry-leading business strategy, launch new products, identify new markets, and establish a viable payments aggregation model. The company knows where the mobile payments market is going and identifies the strategies, technologies, and tactical solutions that move clients to where the market will be. eProcessing Network’s ePNMobile is compatible with a large number of mobile devices, including Android and BlackBerry phones and tablets, as well as iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches. Merchants can simply install the ePNMobile app onto their device from the Apple App Store or Android Market. (BlackBerry users can log in to the ePN Merchant Support Center to download the app.)
Headquarters: Houston, TX Website: eProcessingNetwork.com Year founded: 2000
Firethorn Mobile Inc.
Firethorn Mobile’s Cloud-based FirethornPay product enables consumers to pay using their smartphones. Consumers can easily load and top-up a mobilestored value card, in addition to receiving loyalty rewards for use at check-out. For retailers, existing POS and loyalty systems are leveraged and transactions are processed as they are today without the need to purchase barcode scanners. Firethorn Mobile’s SWAGG application, on the other hand, allows consumers to enter and manage their plastic gift and rewards cards directly on their phone.
Headquarters: Atlanta, GA Website: firethornmobile.com Year founded: 2006
FirethornPay is a B2B service for both retailers and application service providers, while SWAGG is offered direct to consumers via the Apple App Store and Google Play.
First Annapolis Consulting Inc.
C CB Headquarters: Linthicum, MD Website: firstannapolis.com Year founded: 1991
C carrier CB carrier billing loyalty and rewards
16 October 2012 | Transaction trends
First Annapolis Consulting’s Mobile Commerce & Alternative Payments practice area is focused on helping companies adapt to innovations impacting the industry, particularly the paradigm shift toward integrated marketing and payments. The firm’s engagements—which are provided to merchants, acquirers, issuers, and retailers, in addition to wireless carriers and alternative payments providers—encompass an array of mobile services such as mobile wallets, marketing/advertising applications (including offers, shopping, and loyalty), and mobile banking.
mobile acceptance
P2P payments
mobile payments
POS hardware/handsets
mobile wallets
prepaid
promotions and offers software
First Data
First Data is a leader in the mobile commerce revolution with payment solutions and security to help its customers drive ROI and enable consumers to conveniently pay using their mobile devices. With the help of First Data SourceConnectSM TSM Solution and First Data uCommerceSM Solutions, any NFC-enabled mobile device can be turned into a secure wallet.
Headquarters: Atlanta, GA Website: firstdata.com Year founded: 1964
First Data delivers its mobile commerce solutions directly to merchants and financial institutions as well as through ISOs and agents.
FlowPay Corporation Inc.
FlowPay’s mobile solution allows any person in a congregation to make secure donations to nonprofit organizations and political campaigns and do so without transmitting any financial data. The solution is made available to churches, para-ministries, and nonprofit organizations via both a direct and an indirect sales distribution channel.
Headquarters: Highlands Ranch, CO Website: flowpaycorp.com Year founded: 2008
Gemalto
Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere—in ways that are convenient, enjoyable, and secure. Gemalto, which has more than 10,000 employees operating out of 74 offices and 14 research and development centers in 43 countries, delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, identity protection, payment security, authenticated online services, Cloud computing access, modern transportation, M2M communication, eHealthcare, and eGovernment services.
Headquarters: Austin, TX Website: gemalto.com Year founded: 2006
Gemalto is working diligently with its partners to ensure there is a smooth and efficient process in place for its users when it comes to getting its mobile commerce solutions to market.
Go Mobile Commerce
Go Mobile Commerce specializes in handheld, wireless credit card machine rentals for short-term use (such as at auctions, festivals, and golf tournaments), although it also has experience with mobile payment application development and pay-at-the-table POS systems.
CB Headquarters: Tacoma, WA Website: gomobilecommerce.com Year founded: 2008
Go Mobile Commerce sells its solutions through ISOs as well as directly to merchants via a recently opened retail showroom and its website.
Google Inc.
Google has partnered with leading companies across the mobile, financial, and retail ecosystems to develop Google Wallet, a virtual wallet that stores consumers’ payment cards, offers, and more on their phones and online. Google Wallet is offered directly to consumers.
Headquarters: Mountain View, CA Website: google.com/wallet Year founded: 1998
Groupon
On the consumer side, Chicago-based Groupon, which markets its mobile commerce solutions directly to its existing merchant base, has a mobile payments solution, an e-wallet, loyalty programs, reward programs, and offers. On the merchant side, it has an app that allows for acceptance of credit cards and offers.
Headquarters: Chicago, IL Website: groupon.com Year founded: 2008
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Transaction trends | October 2012 17
[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ] Heartland Payment Systems
Headquarters: Princeton, NJ Website: heartlandpaymentsystems.com Year founded: 1997
The Mobuyle encrypting card reader is available directly from Heartland through its relationship managers, while the app can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play.
Isis
The Isis Mobile Wallet uses NFC-enabled smartphones to transform how consumers and merchants interact. Consumers can discover and redeem offers, present loyalty cards, and make purchases—all with a tap of their phones. “Isis Ready” merchants can enjoy an enhanced level of one-on-one engagement with consumers through customized marketing campaigns designed to increase consumer loyalty and spending.
C Headquarters: New York, NY Website: paywithisis.com Year founded: 2010
The Isis Mobile Wallet will be available to consumers through AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. Isis will be offered as a mobile commerce platform to merchants both directly and with the help of acquirers and ISOs.
LevelUp
With LevelUp—which is backed by Google Ventures, Balderton Capital, Continental Advisors, Highland Capital, Transmedia Capital, and T-Venture— merchants are able to run high-tech mobile payment and customer engagement programs. LevelUp charges a zero percent payment processing fee, allowing merchants to re-invest savings into growing their business by attracting and retaining new customers.
Headquarters: Boston, MA Website: thelevelup.com Year founded: 2011
LevelUp is offered directly to consumers and merchants.
MagTek Inc.
MagTek’s mobile commerce solution, QwickPAY, which surpasses current PCI DSS standards, encrypts card data from the point of swipe and combines the multilayered security of MagneSafe. It brings convenience to mobile payments without sacrificing security. In addition, it’s easy to use and can help merchants lower their cost of accepting cards by as much as 30 percent.
Headquarters: Seal Beach, CA Website: magtek.com Year founded: 1972
MagTek’s mobile commerce solutions are available direct to merchants, as well as through VARs and ISOs.
Merchant Warehouse
Merchant Warehouse’s Genius Customer Engagement Platform aggregates and integrates any conceivable transaction technology, payment type, and customer program—both present and future—into a single countertop device. Genius was created to address three common pain points felt by merchants, POS developers, and payment providers: choice, security, and access.
Headquarters: Boston, MA Website: merchantwarehouse.com Year founded: 1998
Although Genius will only be made available through integrated POS partners initially, it will become generally available in early 2013.
mobeam Inc.
Mobeam overcomes the technical barrier preventing mobile phones from interacting with laser scanners at checkout. Mobeam makes it possible for consumers to digitally receive and store barcode-enabled offers—coupons, loyalty cards, gift cards, tickets, and more—and then digitally redeem them directly from their smartphone when they shop.
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA Website: mobeam.com Year founded: 2010
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Heartland Payment Systems’ Mobuyle product delivers the functionality of an attended terminal right into the palm of a merchant’s hands by turning a mobile device into a payment terminal. The merchant simply plugs the encrypting card reader into the device’s audio jack and it’s ready to accept credit, debit, and commercial cards, as well as Heartland gift cards, through the Mobuyle application.
Mobeam works with handset manufacturers, CPG manufacturers, retail distributors, and developers to put Mobeam directly in the hands of consumers.
mobile acceptance
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Offer more currencies. Get more merchants. Pay In Your Currency® lets your merchants sell in multiple currencies, increasing their sales and your profitability. Pay In Your Currency is an innovative payment solution that lets international customers pay in the currency they know best – their own. This unique, value-added service lets you improve profitability, earn more revenue from your current customers and gain a significant competitive advantage.
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Planet Payment®, Pay In Your Currency® and the “Currency Block” design are trademarks of Planet Payment, Inc. © 2012 Planet Payment, Inc. All rights reserved. To contact us call 800-489-0174, email pyc@planetpayment.com or visit us online at planetpayment.com
[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ] MobiSquad
MobiSquad provides equipment and training to local merchants, enabling them to accept contactless payments and offers from users of the Isis Mobile Wallet, which allows consumers to store debit, credit, and loyalty cards, as well as coupons and transit passes.
Headquarters: Phoenix, AZ Website: mobisquad.com Year founded: 2006
MobiSquad’s direct sales team speeds around town in purple smart cars delivering NFC acceptance technology to small and mid-sized merchants.
Mocapay
Mocapay provides merchants—including restaurants, hotels, spas, and retail— with the technology to open a new customer channel and access information in a way that allows them to truly own the customer relationship. Mocapay’s mobile marketing, loyalty, gift card, comp card, and payments solutions may be used independently of other marketing programs or integrated with existing programs and strategies.
Headquarters: Denver, CO Website: mocapay.com Year founded: 2008
PayAnywhere
PayAnywhere’s enterprise-grade mobile POS solution allows merchants of any size to sell anything, anywhere with the swipe of a credit card on their mobile devices. PayAnywhere is a highly secure, feature-rich, “pay-as-you-go” mobile POS solution that allows merchants to engage customers and grow their businesses.
Headquarters: Troy, MI Website: payanywhere.com Year founded: 2011
PayAnywhere is available directly to merchants, who can sign up online, in-app, or purchase the reader at retail locations.
Payment Alliance International
Headquarters: Louisville, KY Website: GoPAI.com Year founded: 2005
PAI’s Mobile Acquiring solution includes “QwickPay,” which enables smartphones to act as POS terminals. Mobile loyalty/rewards products include the On Target Marketing product, which provides SMS text messaging and enrollment for couponing and rewards at its POS retail and ATM locations. P2P services include “QwickCodes” (cardless ATM cash access using tokens) and prepaid card money transfers as access accounts. PAI markets its solutions through distributors, direct sales, telemarketing, financial institutions, and via text marketing, as well as on-screen/digital advertising at its 60,000-plus ATMs.
PayOne
PayOne’s AnyPhone solution can be used by merchants and content owners to monetize their games and apps, charge for subscriptions and digital content, or give their customers an easy way to pay for parking, purchase tickets, and complete other transactions that are billed directly to their mobile phone bill.
C Headquarters: San Jose, CA Website: payone.com Year founded: 2000
PayOne works directly with merchants and developers looking to monetize their digital content with easily integrated, friction-free billing services.
PayPal
PayPal created the first digital wallet more than 14 years ago as a way to ensure that consumers could make payments quickly, easily, and securely. Today, the company has mobile solutions on the market ranging from Mobile Express Checkout, which brings the convenience of PayPal Express Checkout online, to its mobile platform and PayPal Here, which offers merchants a complete payment solution by allowing them to accept almost any form of payment.
Headquarters: San Jose, CA Website: paypal.com Year founded: 1998
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PayPal offers solutions that benefit both consumers and retailers large and small. The company offers its customers the ability to access their PayPal accounts both offline and online without having to share their bank account or credit information, and as an added feature they’re able to unlock benefits such as online rewards and real-time account alerts via text message. For retailers, PayPal provides them with the tools to sell to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Ultimately, those who will use PayPal will be consumers and retailers looking for flexibility, security, and convenience in a payment solution. mobile acceptance
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Managing Payments, Driving Solutions
We’re Vantiv. Dedicated, strategic professionals with 40 years of experience developing innovative payment processing solutions for merchants across the nation. We’ll work with you to develop programs that simplify your payment acceptance strategies, while providing you with new sources of revenue. And we’ll help protect your business with our comprehensive data security and fraud prevention solutions. Our people, technology, and partnerships are the Vantiv difference. Let’s discuss your future success.
Let’s talk payment processing 866.622.2833 vantiv.com/tt
Expect more. © Copyright 2012 Vantiv, LLC. All rights reserved.
[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ] Placecast
Placecast, a leader in location-based marketing, has been successfully monetizing mobile, and delivering increased ROI for its clients, with ShopAlerts, an end-to-end mobile monetization platform. With more than 130 brand clients, and major carriers and credit card companies as licensed ShopAlerts partners, Placecast currently reaches over 10 million active opt-in users across the U.S. and U.K.
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA Website: placecast.net Year founded: 2005
Placecast partners with retailers, mobile carriers, and payment companies to deploy its solution.
ProPay Inc.
ProPay provides multiple mobile processing options that enable merchants to accept card payments using regular touchtone phones, mobile card readers, smartphones, and other tablet PC devices. The company recently announced a new product called ProPay Link, a social, mobile payment platform that connects customers and merchants in a new way. At the heart of ProPay’s mobile solutions is ProtectPay, a secure payment service. ProPay’s mobile card readers encrypt sensitive payment data at swipe, ensuring the customer’s payment data is secure throughout the transaction.
Headquarters: Lehi, UT Website: propay.com Year founded: 1997
ROAM Data
ROAM Data is a payments-platform-as-a-service provider, with solutions that suit card-present and card-not-present transactions. The company offers secure APIs and hardware for mobile POS. Also, it has a mobile-optimized checkout and wallet solution for consumer-facing applications.
Headquarters: Boston, MA Website: roamdata.com Year founded: 2005
ROAM uses mostly indirect channels—such as ISOs, systems integrators, and VARs—to market its solutions. It also has a direct sales force that targets key verticals.
Sage Payment Solutions (a division of Sage North America)
Sage Mobile Payments allows organizations to cost-effectively and securely process credit and debit card transactions on mobile phones and tablets. PCIcompliant and bundled with a Sage merchant account, the product features signature-capture capabilities, a tax-and-tip calculator, and a free Sage Mobile “app store” download.
Headquarters: McLean, VA Website: na.sage.com/sage-payment-solutions/ Year founded: 1981
SPS actively markets its products through its sales channels, ISOs, cross-sell opportunities, and conferences/trade shows.
SecureNet Payment Systems
SecureNet’s leading-edge mobile platform includes: MobilePOS, which allows merchants to accept credit, debit, and check payments through mobile devices and provides valuable business analytics for smarter business decisions, and Mobile CheckOut, which allows merchants and mobile solution providers to seamlessly plug in SecureNet-powered payment solutions behind mobile POS applications without worrying about PCI DSS compliance.
Headquarters: Austin, TX Website: securenet.com Year founded: 1997
Strong partnerships in the ISO and reseller community uniquely position SecureNet to lead a multichannel distribution strategy for mobile solutions.
SHAZAM
SHAZAM’s Pentagon solution is a mobile payments application that allows merchants—such as cab drivers, plumbers, electricians, contractors, personal trainers, and massage therapists—to accept PIN debit, signature debit, and credit card transactions using iPhone and Android mobile phone and tablet devices. The solution uses the customer’s phone for PIN capture.
Headquarters: Johnston, IA Website: shazam.net Year founded: 1976
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SHAZAM markets directly to merchants, as well as to its member financial institutions and their merchant portfolios.
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[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ] ShopKeep POS
ShopKeep POS is a Cloud-based POS solution that allows any merchant to manage his/her business. By providing a front-end iPad register and BackOffice with detailed reporting on inventory, sales, and customer relationship management, the ShopKeep POS software-as-a-service never lets your system become outdated.
Headquarters: New York, NY Website: shopkeep.com Year founded: 2008
ShopKeep POS is distributed through direct sales, ISOs, and VARs.
SparkBase
SparkBase’s Paycloud makes loyalty easy for businesses by providing types of loyalty programs that work well for each industry and implementing as well as mobilizing them. Utilizing iPhone and Android smartphones in addition to plastic cards, Paycloud enables loyalty rewards, delivers merchant coupons, and provides insightful customer analytics.
Headquarters: Cleveland, OH Website: sparkbase.com Year founded: 2004
SparkBase’s solutions are distributed by ISOs as well as directly to merchants and consumers.
Spindle Inc.
Spindle Inc.’s mobile payment solutions incorporate credit, debit, stored value, ACH, and SMS payment methods. Its product portfolio includes RhinoPay, an alternative payment solution that is network- and device-agnostic. The company also owns and has developed an extensive intellectual property portfolio, including issued, pending, and provisional patents covering networked and mobile payments, credit card processing, and security.
Headquarters: Scottsdale, AZ Website: spindle.com Year founded: 2010
Spindle works with financial institutions and communications providers to reach merchants and consumers.
Square
Square hopes to revolutionize everyday transactions between buyers and sellers with its free credit card reader for the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, allowing anyone to accept credit cards anywhere, anytime. Square Register serves as a full POS system for businesses to accept payments, track inventory, and share menu and location information. Pay with Square, on the other hand, enables individuals to pay with their name at their favorite local merchants, discover nearby businesses, explore menu listings, and store receipts.
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA Website: squareup.com Year founded: 2009
Square provides its card readers to merchants and consumers for free from its website. It’s also available in over 20,000 retail locations including Apple, Best Buy, FedEx Office, OfficeMax, Radio Shack, Target, Sprint, Walgreens, and Walmart.
Street Savings
Street Savings provides certified mobile marketing and engagement solutions that increase revenue for merchants, acquiring banks, and resellers by costeffectively mobilizing gift and loyalty programs. The company’s products send text message offers that customers can redeem on merchant credit card terminals and POS systems, helping businesses both build loyalty and increase sales.
Headquarters: Orange, CA Website: streetsavings.com Year founded: 2006
Street Savings markets its product through agents, ISOs, and partners.
Transaction Network Services Inc.
Headquarters: Reston, VA Website: tnsi.com Year founded: 1990
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TNS offers solutions for mobile payments acceptance, including payment gateway services that are pre-integrated with specific third-party hardware and software solutions and certified to the leading processing platforms, as well as services designed to enrich mobile commerce for merchants, issuers, and alternative payment service providers, where the mobile device represents the wallet and the vehicle for marketing to the mobile consumer. TNS sells via an ISO channel for its mobile POS gateway, via American Express for its mCommerce gateway, and direct to merchants and issuers for its mobile commerce offerings.
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TrustCommerce
PayWithIt secure mobile payment application is the ideal way to accept credit cards, signature debit, and ACH on the go. Available through popular devices, merchants can securely accept payments by encrypted card swipe or manual entry. Both merchant data and customer data remain protected at all points. PayWithIt can be used in conjunction with all TrustCommerce payment solutions.
Headquarters: Irvine, CA Website: trustcommerce.com Year founded: 2000
PayWithIt is a free application available for download from major app stores.
TSYS Acquiring Solutions
TSYS’ Mobile Payment Acceptance is a smartphone-based payments application that accepts debit and credit cards. It features cardholder signature capture, seamlessly emails receipts to customers, and supports encrypted card readers. All card data is transmitted securely using TSYS’ proprietary point-to-point encryption.
Headquarters: Tempe, AZ Website: merchantexperience.com Year founded: 2005
TSYS Acquiring Solutions markets Mobile Payment Acceptance to its acquiring and merchant services base.
Tyfone
Tyfone’s iCashe is a mobile wallet that blends comprehensive mobile banking features with convenient consumer purchasing, gifting, and loyalty programs. Gift cards can be purchased through iCashe and delivered via email and SMS, letting users complete the gifting process from within their mobile banking application anytime, anywhere.
Headquarters: Portland, OR Website: tyfone.com Year founded: 2004
Banks and credit unions looking to add iCashe to their mobile banking applications work with Tyfone to integrate the service.
U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular is committed to providing customers with mobile commerce solutions that are enabled via mobile devices. As a wireless carrier, the Chicagobased company strives to create and deliver secure technologies that leverage its network, while making the lives of its customers easier and better.
C Headquarters: Chicago, IL Website: uscellular.com Year founded: 1983
USAePay
USAePay’s PaySaber mobile POS products are secure mobile payment solutions that process transactions via the USAePay Gateway. Whether you need a simple card reader or a mobile terminal complete with barcode scanner and thermal printer, PaySaber has a solution for any size business.
Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA Website: usaepay.com Year founded: 1998
USAePay markets its solutions, which are compatible with Apple/Android devices, via ISOs and MSPs.
VeriFone Inc.
VeriFone leverages the power of mobile and Web and integrates with the world of retail and payments to bring new shopping experiences to merchants and consumers anywhere. From accepting NFC and Cloud wallets to transforming smartphones and tablet computers into mobile POS systems and in-store shopping assistants, VeriFone has it all.
Headquarters: San Jose, CA Website: verifone.com Year founded: 1981
VeriFone works through multiple channels that include direct to merchant, acquirers, ISOs, re-sellers, and VARs.
ViVOtech
Founded in 2001, Silicon Valley-based ViVOtech provides merchant, mobile, payment, Web, and advertising companies the key building blocks of the NFC ecosystem: smart applications for enhancing the customer experience, trusted service manager (TSM) software, and POS systems.
Headquarters: Santa Clara, CA Website: vivotech.com Year founded: 2001
ViVOtech markets its mobile commerce solutions—which enable in-store payment, loyalty, marketing, and merchandising—directly to merchants, as well as via ISOs.
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Transaction trends | October 2012 25
[ Mobile Commerce Providers Guide ] Voltage Security
Voltage provides end-to-end encryption solutions to secure cardholder data in mobile transactions from both mobile browser and mobile app as well as in-store mobile POS devices. Voltage solutions drastically reduce PCI scope and compliance costs. The solutions are vendor-agnostic and encrypt data at swipe or key-in, keeping data encrypted until it reaches its processing destination.
Headquarters: Cupertino, CA Website: voltage.com Year founded: 2003
Voltage plans to bring its solution to merchants through partnerships with payment processors, mobile POS vendors, and mobile app developers.
Zenius Solutions Inc.
Zenius Inc. is a software company that produces end-to-end transaction systems solutions, NFC middleware, and NFC applications software solutions for mobile payment and transactions. Mobile commerce solutions include the Zenius Wallet that runs on Android, iOS, and RIM devices; TransactionServer for processing closed-loop transactions; open-loop apps for the world’s leading payment brands; software SDK for developing mobile software applications; and a suite of closed-loop NFC apps for coupon, ticketing, loyalty, identity, metro, and bank card—all of which may be rebranded. With Zenius M-Transact, customers can use popular mobile devices for payment and transaction acceptance.
C Headquarters: Redding, CA Website: zenius.com Year founded: 2008
Zenius sells solutions to payment solutions providers, financial institutions, MNOs, system operators, and platform providers who integrate its middleware, wallet solution, closed-loop apps, and M-Transact acceptance software. TT
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Learn more at apriva.com or call us at 877-277-0728
Security. Connectivity. Mobility.
ATTRACT MORE MERCHANTS TAILOR-MADE POS SOLUTIONS GIVE YOUR MERCHANTS THE ABILITY TO SELL ANYTHING, ANYWHERE Wireless Terminals • Secure Gateway • Cashless Vending • Mobile Payments • Mobile Wallet
26 October 2012 | Transaction trends
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[ FEATURE ]
Social Payments:
“Like”
Consumers embrace mobile payments via social networks as fast as they’re launched By Julie Ritzer Ross
j
ust a few short years ago, most consumers hadn’t considered using social networks for any reason other than to update status and check on friends. And few had thought about paying for purchases with a mobile device, getting emails and texts about personalized special deals, or collecting real-money loyalty rewards.Today, new payment options that leverage social networks are emerging, and a convergence of mobile payments and mobile loyalty has begun. Until recently, Facebook had its own virtual currency—Facebook Credits—used primarily for the purchase of virtual goods, such as “gifts” to post on friends’ walls and games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Facebook nixed the credits last summer. Users now buy items with their own local currency and also have the option to subscribe to Facebook services that require monthly payments. Under the original Facebook payment model, only one-time payments were accepted.
With the new system, users enter their credit card information once for storage on the Facebook server and then complete transactions with a single click.“By supporting pricing in local currency (instead of credits), we hope to simplify the purchase experience, give (merchants) more flexibility, and make it easier to reach a global audience of users,” a Facebook spokesperson said when the changes were announced in mid-June. Analysts say the selection of tangible (nonvirtual) merchandise available for purchase through Facebook is small for now and the social network has far to go before it sits on a level playing field with the likes of iTunes. However, the migration from vir28 October 2012 | Transaction trends
tual credits to real currency is only the first of several Facebook initiatives aimed at leveraging the electronic payments space to generate more revenue from sources other than advertising. “They are showing us they care about driving revenue, and that is what investors want to see,” says Michael Pachter, an equities analyst with Wedbush Securities.
Strategic Alliances In February, Facebook inked a deal with Bango, a mobile payments technology provider, enabling consumers to buy digital items (such as online games) and nondigital merchandise (such as concert tickets) while
KEY NOTES 8 Facebook has a long way to go before it competes with iTunes for online purchases, but its migration from virtual credits to real currency is just the first of several Facebook initiatives aimed at generating more revenue from non-advertising sources. 8 Although “daily deal” sites like Groupon generated $3 billion in revenues in 2011, consumers are growing weary of the number of offers and their lack of relevance, leading to the emergence of more personalized deals, like a new program from Amex. 8 In an emerging social-mobile model, consumers convert accrued loyalty points and airline miles to “real currency” to use at any merchant.
Transaction trends | October 2012
29
[ FEATURE ] logged into Facebook’s mobile version. Users purchase with a single click and charges appear on their mobile phone bills. Bango gets an undisclosed cut of each click, and the mobile carriers receive negotiated, varied fees as well.The service went live last month in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Despite the need to spread around the processing wealth, observers say the alliance between Bango and the social network has potential to shore up Facebook as a payments platform—especially considering half of its 955 million users worldwide access Facebook on their mobile phones. The relationship also lets Facebook grab a slice of the pie from contenders like Google, and avoid sharing revenues with them. Still, this is just the tip of the iceberg where changes in social payments are concerned. Social networks and social media also are being used to deliver deals. For example, shoppers who check in on Foursquare at any Walgreens store immediately receive a unique, scannable coupon on their smartphone. Deals may be redeemed in-store at the point of sale. Another emerging trend is the personalization of “daily deals”—and maybe not a moment too soon.Although sites like Groupon generated $3 billion in revenues in 2011, consumers are growing weary of the number of emailed deal offers they’re getting and turned off by the lack of relevance. “They have a real case of what we call deal fatigue, and it is not going away,” notes Jen Millard, chief revenue officer of Truaxis, which provides data personalization platforms to financial institutions and merchants.According to data from Truaxis: • One in six Americans over the age of 12 (the majority of whom are women ages 25 to 34) subscribe to a daily deal site. • Most subscribers joined for one deal, but have barely returned or have not returned to the site. • A total of 798 daily deal entities, or 8 percent of the industry, exited the market in the third and fourth quarters of 2011. • Daily deal site traffic has decreased by 17 percent since the start of 2012. • Groupon’s revenue totaled $1.6 billion in 2011, but its losses totaled $257 million. • LivingSocial brought in $245 million in revenue last year, but incurred losses of $558 million. 30 October 2012 | Transaction trends
Truaxis has configured a “relevance engine” that allows merchants to target offers to specific customers based on such factors as transaction levels, previous purchases, buying patterns, and other parameters. Similarly, Groupon has unveiled a SmartDeals personalization algorithm. Groupon CEO Andrew Mason says merchants see 50 percent higher purchase rates when offers are designed in line with the algorithm. American Express is actually making the most comprehensive attempt at personalizing daily deals. Last May, Amex introduced a mobile offer engine that harnesses data from a “cardmember spend graph” and cardmembers’ geographic location to recommend and rank offers from merchants. More than 3 million cardmembers who have downloaded Amex’s iPhone app now have access to a “My Offers” feature through which they can obtain real-time lists of nearby deals in line with their purchase histories and current location.To claim an offer, cardmembers add it to the American Express card linked to their account and use that card when purchasing the deal from the participating merchant online or in-store; the discount is then applied to the account. At press time, the feature was being piloted with deals available from merchants in Los Angeles, California, and New York City, and with national offers from Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, and FedEx. Plans call for a rollout of “My Offers” to more U.S. cities over the next year; global implementations also are on the drawing board. “My Offers” builds upon other initiatives by Amex to support deal personalization. For instance, a “Link, Like, Love” promotion gave Facebook users deals tied to their “likes” and interests. As an adjunct to the mobile offer engine, Amex has enhanced its Go Social offer entry tool. Besides accessing performance statistics, such as the number of customers who redeemed an offer and the size of the average purchase, merchants can now set objectives for individual offers. For example, they can limit a given deal to members who have not patronized their establishments within a certain time parameter, or to those who do so more than a certain number of times each month and/or meet a particular spending limit. Last spring, Amex launched an SMS text message service for cardmembers who
don’t own an iPhone. Members who opt in to the service get a text when they’re in the vicinity of a merchant offering a deal; if it appeals to them, they respond to the text, pay for the item or service with their card, and receive a text confirming the discount. Location-based alerts for iPhone users, which could be triggered when a member swipes his or her card, may be introduced as well, says a spokesperson.
Bigger and Better Rewards Meanwhile, an increase in the number of consumers who carry their smartphones wherever they go and use them to interact with local businesses through mobile apps is leading to a convergence of mobile loyalty programs and mobile payments. “This is a natural next step as merchants try to find an easier way to engage and retain customers while collecting data that can be used to strengthen these ties,” states Dave Meeker, director of emerging technologies at Roundarch Isobar, a Boston-based digital marketing agency. “As NFC takes hold, there will be even more activity” on this front. A product from LevelUp, which works with any web-connected mobile device, is one example of the mobile payments and mobile loyalty marriage. Participants link their account with a credit or debit card and receive a unique quick-response (QR) code to display on their device.They then scan the code to pay for goods and services at any participating business, earning rewards redeemable at these merchants as well as credits of up to $20 for their initial visits to each establishment. LevelUp charges participating merchants a 2 percent payment processing fee and gives them the option to scan customers’ QR codes using an iPhone or Android application or specialized Android-powered hardware provided by T-Mobile. The company shares analytics with merchants so they can track customer spending; its data indicates that businesses get $5.70 in return for every dollar of initial visit credit extended, says LevelUp Founder Seth Priebatsch. In addition, 65 percent of customers who make an initial purchase at a particular establishment via LevelUp return to that store or restaurant at least once in the next 30 days.
Payment components are being integrated into loyalty programs to underscore heightened awareness that consumers now demand more personalized “deals” and enhanced reward redemption flexibility. The loyalty piece encourages customers to spend more money per transaction than they otherwise would, suggests Priebatsch. He pegs average purchase amounts for LevelUp members at seven to 10 percent higher than those for credit cards. Kuapay, a mobile payment solution provider, also has a mobile loyalty component. Like LevelUp, Kuapay’s app is built around QR codes, which, in this case, are generated by typing a passcode into an iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android device. Retailers scan the code using the Kuapay POS merchant app, generating a bill that appears on customers’ smartphone screens and is paid using their choice of linked credit or debit card. Once consumers have input their loyalty account numbers into Kuapay by tapping the “add” button in the app, they can search hundreds of reward programs and enter their account number into their Kuapay profile. The app generates a barcode for retailers to scan when it’s time to redeem a reward. Retailers pay a fee of 2 percent plus 23 cents per accepted Kuapay transaction, with the solution provider netting 5 cents from each one. “Whether a mobile payment/mobile wallet application uses QR codes or NFC, the loyalty piece and the mobile payment
piece need to come in as a package deal,” says Kuapay Founder/CEO Joaquin Ayuso de Paul.“Customer expectation is the driver, and will continue to be the driver.” For its part, SparkBase, a provider of proprietary gift and loyalty programs, has jumped into the fray with a mobile app called Paycloud Mobile Wallet. Consumers opening the app on an iPhone or Android are presented with a map indicating the locations of nearby participating merchants. Each merchant is represented by a blue dot; tapping that dot allows users to sign up for that merchant’s loyalty program in single-click fashion. The app recognizes consumers’ arrival at any store or restaurant in whose program they have already enrolled and boots up accordingly. Depending on the configuration chosen by the individual retailer, customers can then check in at the business and, at the point of sale, redeem any points they have accumulated. They can also view and redeem specialized offers and rewards. Consumers don’t need an NFC-enabled device to use the app, and retailers don’t need additional equipment, either. Redemption is initiated by tapping the iPhone or Android to send an encrypted signal through the smartphone radio; the latter is picked up
by a sensor that interfaces with existing POS terminals. In an entirely different vein, just as Facebook is being “monetized” with the conversion to real currency, different payment components are being integrated into loyalty programs. Such a move underscores heightened awareness among providers and merchants that consumers are beginning to demand not only more personalized “deals,” but also enhanced reward redemption flexibility. Loylogic, a global exchange and clearinghouse of virtual currencies, earlier this year unveiled PointsPay, which lets consumers convert accrued loyalty points and airline miles to “real currency” that’s good at any merchant that accepts Visa or MasterCard.The solution has a mobile element: Consumers download the PointsPay app on their iPhone and add their loyalty programs. Points and/or miles are then converted by being loaded onto a virtual or plastic prepaid Visa or MasterCard. Virtual cards may be used to shop online, and plastic cards may be used either online or in-store. The platform doesn’t require integration with POS solutions, which has traditionally been a “pain point” for merchants and an impediment to loyalty program implementation as a whole, says Robert Moerland, Loylogic’s vice president of business development. It also is attractive to merchants in that it opens up new ways to initiate or extend promotions. “What this represents in terms of future trends is the ability to offer choice and customization,” Moerland adds.“Programs can determine the conversion rate and may decide to offer personalized rates to specific member segments.” Without a more fluid mobile loyalty redemption scenario linked to payments, the mobile loyalty sector may flounder, as appears to be the case with more generic daily deals.“We are all looking for bigger, better rewards,” says Shane Kim, a partner and managing member of private equity firm Camden Partners in Baltimore. “Anything that doesn’t promote our principal reason for participating is standing in our way.” TT Julie Ritzer Ross is a contributing writer to Transaction Trends. Reach her at jritzerross@gmail.com. Transaction trends | October 2012
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Startup Stories:
COCARD
A New Lease on Life Focus on protecting residuals and giving members the tools for success brings rebirth to cooperative By John Manasso
A COCARD members volunteering their time at COCARD’s booth at the ETA conference
COCARD
Nashville, TN Annual processing volume:
$3.3 billion
“The main benefit members see is the security of their portfolio.” —Dan Brattland, Chairman
32 October 2012 | Transaction trends
year ago, COCARD underwent what Chairman Dan Brattland calls a “rebirth.” Formed in 2000 as a cooperative—which the company’s name hints at—COCARD restructured last summer when some of the original members broke off to launch their own ISO. Under the old structure, members had two or three different kinds of voting rights.Those who owned “A shares,” a small number, held sway over an entity that included 120 offices. COCARD is now managed by a board with nine members who serve two-year terms (staggered like U.S. Senate seats) and meet once every two weeks. COCARD members vote each year at the annual meeting to elect three to four board members. In one of the most significant reforms under the restructuring, all COCARD members have voting rights. Under the earlier structure, it was difficult to convince prospective “quality” members to join. “When I say ‘quality,’ I mean a company doing any substantial amount of business,” says Brattland.“No one would want to join if they didn’t have a say or voting rights. That sort of loss of control is a big concern for someone doing well in our business. We couldn’t recruit, so we put every member in the same class. We no longer have the two or three separate classes of memberships, so right now is probably the best time in our history to join COCARD.” In April and May, the company experienced the two largest revenue months in its history. COCARD now has 70 offices, having added five in recent months, and does $3.3 billion in processing volume annually.
Residual Protection “What we’ve done with these changes is we’ve got our members more involved,” says General Manager Jenny Allen, who has been with COCARD for eight years.“They have more of a say-so in the direction of our company. It’s just been a change in attitude overall in the camaraderie we have within the company.” Besides voting rights, COCARD’s restructuring also affected residuals.The cooperative’s corporate office is located in Nashville, but sales offices dot the country; Brattland is based out of Minneapolis. The way COCARD now handles residuals is that 10 percent goes to run the corporate office with the rest being retained by the members. What is left over from the 10 percent used to cover operating expenses is redistributed to members— somewhat like a dividend—but the pooled residuals also have another important use.
Dan Brattland with Member Christy Milton accepting her annual stock/ ownership certificate at COCARD’s annual meeting in Las Vegas
“That 10 percent gets banked or counted toward what we call units,” Brattland explains.“Units are similar to stock for an LLC, so the 10 percent that COCARD retains actually goes into an investment pool. The key component is our members control their own residuals, their 90 percent. So if COCARD ever merges with a possible acquirer, let’s say someone wants to come in and purchase COCARD, we can sell the 10 percent operating company and not force members to sell their 90 percent. However, we want to give members the option if that opportunity happens.” Brattland ticks off some of the pluses for ISOs that join the cooperative. One is the strength in numbers they gain in being able to negotiate top pricing with their processors, as their three main ones are some pretty big names: First Data, NTC, and TransFirst. Another is concept-sharing or brain-storming-type sessions that members engage in. Brattland offers the example of a member hearing about a new type of POS software and wanting to learn more about it and then having the ability to use other members as a sounding board. COCARD would start up a Google group and members could go online to express their thoughts on the matter. “Had I not joined COCARD on the get-go, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Brattland says.“Right out of the gate, I gained knowledge of how to market.” In fact, Brattland’s entry into the payments industry is not unlike numerous other entrepreneurs who have ventured into it. As a high school student, he ran two or three different businesses, but Brattland was dyslexic and didn’t see much of a future in going to college. So he bypassed it altogether, founding a company in the personnel and professional development business.The company took off when he joined forces with a motivational speaker named Brian Tracy. When he sold the business in 1999 at age 28, Brattland was a millionaire. Because he had agreed to a five-year noncompete clause, Brattland had to look elsewhere for his next opportunity. He attended an ETA function in Chicago and was recruited by a COCARD member the year it was founded. He found the payments industry appealing for a number of reasons. The fact that payments professionals don’t need to be licensed, that the companies themselves don’t require a lot of overhead, and that a business owner can acquire a portfolio that results in residuals all enticed him—and, Brattland believes, other entrepreneurs, as well. “Add onto that the unlimited potential,” he says. “That’s very attractive to the entrepreneur.” Transaction trends | October 2012
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Startup Stories:
COCARD
Attractive Prospect With COCARD’s model, the individual ISOs are responsible for running their own businesses. Brattland’s legal entity is named Global Bankcard Services LLC. The corporate office mostly provides sales support to the 70 offices, so if a member can’t reach a processor and has a question, the Nashville office lends a hand, sort of like back-up for the processor, says Allen. The corporate office doesn’t typically handle boarding, but if a member submits an application or the paperwork that goes with it, the corporate office can help out. It performs the accounting function and, of course, handles the residuals. Because of the reforms COCARD enacted last summer, it is now better positioned for a possible acquisition. At $3.3 billion in processing, it presents an attractive target. Given that members have the option of selling out or remaining independent, COCARD now offers the possibility of a win-win on both sides of the equation—for members and a prospective buyer. Brattland says all 70 offices are now figuratively “in one boat” and that all are rowing in the same direction. He quotes an axiom of Henry Ford’s, saying the cooperative is “moving down the path of success.”
WORDSTOTHEWISE � Find your niche. One of the main lines of business for Brattland’s LLC, Global Bankcard Services, is a POS focused on restaurant software that he stumbled upon while on vacation in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. “Find your formula, find your niche, and focus on becoming excellent in that one area instead of trying to be all things to all people,” says Brattland. “Many people try to find so many different niches and so many different products. Many try to sell their restaurant and retail customers POS software and wireless terminals and spread themselves too thin in many different areas. Most successful businesses I’ve seen become great in one area, not average in many areas.” � Always persevere. “If you’re not getting answers you need, keep going until you get someone who can answer questions,” says COCARD’s Allen. “I learned that doing sales support. You’ll appreciate them once you find them.” � Don’t be secretive. “The most successful people I know in this business are not real secretive,” Brattland says. “Seek out advice and be very open. The least successful people are the ones who are very reserved, secretive. I learned you need other people to get to the top. Nobody makes it alone.”
The main benefit members see of being a member of COCARD “is the security of their portfolio, knowing there is not anyone above who will be sold or acquired or will take your residuals,” Brattland says. “Being part of a larger entity like COCARD, where we have the resources and the le-
gal means to make sure our residuals are protected and have that security, is a huge benefit to being a member.” TT John Manasso is a contributing writer to Transaction Trends. Reach him at john_manasso@yahoo.com.
There has never been a period of greater technical change than the period the merchant acquiring industry is about to enter. EMV, NFC, mobile POS, cloud-based computing/SAAS, mobile wallets and offers redemption are driving upheaval at the point of sale. These phenomena are largely independent but are happening essentially at the same time for differing reasons. This cannot help but reshape acquiring, interjecting new competitors and shaking out existing ones. However, it is strategic complacency and not technical change that is the bigger threat. First Annapolis has been providing management consulting and merger and acquisition advisory focused exclusively on the electronic payments industry for the last 20 years. The merchant acquiring business is one of our deepest specialties. U.S. Office +1 (410) 855 8500 l Europe Office +31 (0) 20 530 0360 l info@firstannapolis.com l www.firstannapolis.com 34 October 2012 | Transaction trends
ETA 2012 BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS PRESIDENT Eddie Myers President & COO PayPros PRESIDENT-ELECT Roy Banks CEO ACCELERATED Payment Technologies Inc. TREASURER Kim Fitzsimmons CEO Cynergy Data SECRETARY Debra Rossi Executive Vice President Merchant Payment Solutions Wells Fargo Bank
Chuck Harris President NetSpend
Kevin Jones President SignaPay
Chris Hylen General Manager & Vice President Intuit
Tom Wimsett Wimsett & Company
Diana Mehochko President DMM Consulting
EX-OFFICIO Jason Oxman CEO Electronic Transactions Association
Mike Passilla President & CEO Elavon
Jan Estep President & CEO NACHA
Jeff Rosenblatt President EVO Merchant Services
Steve Carnevale Group Head—U.S. Market Development/ Emerging Verticals and Acceptance Development MasterCard Worldwide
Kurt Strawhecker Managing Director The Strawhecker Group
IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT Rick Pylant Chairman & CEO Strategic Payments Systems Inc.
ADVISORY COUNCIL John Barrett SVP Sales First Data
DIRECTORS Todd Ablowitz President Double Diamond Group
Eddie Davis Senior Director, Distribution Partners PayPal
Robert Baldwin Vice Chairman Heartland Payment Systems Inc.
Sameer Govil Head of Acceptance Solutions Global Acceptance Visa Inc. Edmond Jay Senior Vice President, Small Merchants American Express Gerry Wagner Vice President Discover Financial Services
Will Graylin
Gregory Cohen Senior Vice President & General Manager Verifone Commerce
Joan Herbig CEO ControlScan
LEGAL COUNSEL Dave Goch Attorney at Law Webster, Chamberlain & Bean
Gary Goodrich CEO ProPay Inc.
Advertisers index Company
Page Phone
Web
Apriva
26 480-421-1275
www.apriva.com
Authorize.Net
C2 866-437-0491
www.authorize.net
Elavon
27 678-731-5236
holly.lytle@elavon.com
eProcessing Network, LLC
10
800-296-4810
www.eprocessingnetwork.com
EVO Merchant Services
23
516-962-7898
jdefilippo@goevo.com
First Annapolis Consulting Services
34
410-855-8500
www.firstannapolis.com
Isis
5
www.paywithisis.com
Merchant’s Choice Payment Solutions
9
800-327-0093
www.mcpscorp.com
NPC, a Vantiv company
21
877-453-5933
www.npc.net
Pax Technology
C3
877-859-0099
www.pax.us
Planet Payment
19
800-489-0174
www.planetpayment.com
1
800-979-9166
www.planetgroupinc.com
11
888-231-0060
www.securenet.com
Planet Group, Inc. SecureNet Payment Systems SparkBase
2 216-867-0877
www.sparkbase.com
Total Merchant Services, Inc
C4
888-84-TOTAL x9411
www.upfrontandresiduals.com
USA ePay
33
866-872-3729
www.usaepay.com
Transaction trends | October 2012 35
Industry Insider
Evolutionary Change
CHARGE Anywhere grows from its “core brain” to bring clients the full spectrum of wireless payment services By Bryan Ochalla
C
HARGE Anywhere may have gotten its start activating and deactivating wireless POS terminals for banks and ISOs, but it’s come a long way since then. Eight years after this South Plainfield, New Jersey-based company first opened its doors, it now offers its client base “a whole host of services that are based around our core brain,” says Founder and President/CEO Paul Sabella of CHARGE Anywhere’s payment gateway, ComsGate. Specifically, CHARGE Anywhere offers its customers—which include banks, ISOs, processors, and even mobile networks—a PCI PADSS-certified software solution that works with e-commerce, POS terminals, smartphones (Apple, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile devices among them), QuickBooks, and Windows, and basically enables merchants to process credit card and “The platform we use ACH payments anytime, anywhere. now help customers The product’s smartphone capawith the four key bilities are especially important to both clients’ and the company’s succomponents of cess moving forward, says Sabella. payment processing “In a way, it’s like we’ve gone back business: face-to-face, to our roots, to doing mobile wiree-commerce, backless credit card transactions—only this time it’s not so much about POS office, and mobile.” devices as it is about mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.” —Paul Sabella, Founder and That said, he and his crew aren’t President/CEO going to stop supporting less-newsworthy technologies any time soon. After all, CHARGE Anywhere’s support of QuickBooks continues to “be a very popular product for us,” says Sabella. CHARGE Anywhere has “10 or so validated payment applications for different POS terminals as well as for PCs and QuickBooks” that, among other things, help keep banks and ISOs from losing merchant accounts to the likes of Intuit and other competitors. Slew of Solutions There are other reasons banks, ISOs, processors, and more continue to approach CHARGE Anywhere long after it was 36 October 2012 | Transaction trends
founded: the company’s card-issuing and database-management products, which promise to reduce administrative costs and streamline reporting for merchants seeking to provide private-label card programs; its check and ACH services, which increase a merchant’s payment-processing options; and its hardware solutions, which include an array of mag-stripe readers, mobile payments peripherals, SIM cards, and terminals. And then there are CHARGE Anywhere’s merchant billing services, which Sabella considers to be a key differentiator between his company and its many competitors.“We provide end-user billing, collection, and remittance, which is something most other gateways don’t provide.” Defining Differentiators In addition, he says, many customers are attracted to the fact that the company’s “connectivity is much broader than most of our competitors. “We have connections to over 30 different platforms, so if you need flexibility to move transactions from one platform to another, or you need to move merchants from one platform to another, that can be a good reason to use CHARGE Anywhere,” says Sabella. Other differentiators of note relate to the company’s support of a wide range of devices and its ability to offer “all of the services that you might otherwise have to get from a number of different companies,” Sabella says. For instance, in many other cases,“if you want point-to-point encryption, you have to find another company to help with that. Or if you want e-commerce gateway services, you might have to go to yet another company to help with that. But you can get it all from us.” Has it always been Sabella’s goal for CHARGE Anywhere to become the one-stop shop that it is today?“Actually, we just kind of evolved into it,” he admits, especially after the company branched out into the e-commerce and mobile markets. Thanks to that evolution, though,“we ended up with the platform you see now,” he adds, which is “one that saves its customers money and time by helping them with what I consider to be the four most important components of payment processing—face-to-face business, e-commerce business, back-office business, and mobile business.” TT Bryan Ochalla is a contributing writer to Transaction Trends. Reach him at bochalla@yahoo.com.
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