Mobile Wallets

A wallet in your mobile

Mobile Payments started out as the medium to pay for goodies like ringtones, caller tunes and wallpapers. This was followed by WAP billing, which facilitated streamlining of user experience and the separation of the payment method and the delivery channel. Even though these contrivances still enjoy substantial success, the concept of mobile payments is now being heralded by cloud based online banking technology. As a result, mobile payments have begun to evolve from fundamental devices to fully-fledged payment instruments. The question is; why would a business entity want its customers to use cloud based mobile banking? The answer lies in the fact that a mobile wallet extends the addressable market of the merchant beyond the domain of plastic money or payment gateways to virtually every mobile subscriber on the planet. This is a win-win situation for any business as the convenience of direct-to-mobile billing results in low friction which further results in improvement in sales and conversion rates.

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As the market evolves, existent players have sat up straight and taken notice. For e.g. PayPal has announced a pilot program with Home Depot to allow shoppers who have a PayPal account to make purchases in store simply by entering their cellphone number and a PIN. Future features will allow customers who scan an item in store with their phone to receive discounts to be used if they purchase the item. In time the program will also link gift cards into your PayPal account. PayPal is piloting the program with Home Depot but intends to offer the program at 20 major retailers by the end of 2012.

At e-Zest, we keep a track of all such industry trends and we believe that this is just the beginning of an innovative refurbishing that the finance industry is about to experience. Customers are rapidly adopting procedures that are executed solely on mobile platforms, and as opposed to the notorious and deterrent ‘security concerns’ of the past, the modern customer now feels it’s safe and convenient to conduct all his banking transactions on his smartphone. This is precisely why Financial Institutions are investing heavily and more importantly on a high-priority basis, in the development of mobile banking facilities.