News from the Wire

ImpulsePay finds merchants reach more customers with mobile billing

Thursday, April 02, 2015 — 16:55:48 (EDT)

London, April 2, 2015 -- New research from ImpulsePay (www.impulsepay.com) reveals that Charge to Mobile reaches one and a half times as many consumers as credit cards and over four times as many as PayPal. The research proves that with over 85 million active mobile subscriptions in the UK alone, Charge to Mobile (known globally as Direct Carrier Billing) has the largest share of users of any mobile payment option in the UK.

Online merchants have the potential to reach 93% of all adults in the UK by including a Charge to Mobile option at checkout – an additional 47% when compared to a stand-alone credit card option at checkout, or an additional 325% more than PayPal.

The figures are compared to the 58 million credit cards that were in circulation in the UK in early 2014, of which only 66% were active, and the number of UK registered PayPal accounts, of which there are 20 million.

The comparison also takes into account similar smartphone apps that allow users to pay for goods direct from their mobiles such as Barclays’ Pingit, which in 2014 had been downloaded just 2.5 million times (equivalent to only 3% of active mobile subscriptions).

Charge to Mobile is the term for the technology that allows a customer to make a purchase via their phone, in a quick transaction without entering their credit card data. The cost is then charged to the customers’ mobile phone account, or taken from the available credit if they are on a pay as you go tariff.

“Digital merchants are looking for a payment method that’s quick and universal,” said Tim Green, editor of payments site Mobile Money Revolution. "They’re finding that many of their customers either don’t have bank cards or just drop out at checkout because the process is so awful. Charge to Mobile has immense potential to solve these problems."

Fees for mobile payments are now comparable to the fees charged for credit card or PayPal transactions and have moved a long way from the 30% transaction fee charged by app stores.

“The goal for Charge to Mobile has always been to reduce the rates enough in order to compete head to head with credit cards as a payment method,” said Paul Paterson, Commercial Director of ImpulsePay. “A great deal of work has been done by the Charge to Mobile providers and the network operators, and as a result new transaction fees of only 9.9% were introduced last year, alongside simpler payment flows.”

It has been estimated that by 2017, global financial transactions through mobile payments will reach £1 trillion, with revenues billed to direct carrier billing expected to grow to £3.9 billion by 2017.

By allowing customers to pay for goods using their mobile phone number, many new potential customers are available for merchants, including under 18s or the hundreds of thousands of households that lack a bank account, who are otherwise excluded from making purchases via a mobile phone.

For further information on ImpulsePay and its Charge to Mobile solution, BillMobile, please go to: www.billmobile.com

Notes:

11% of UK households do not have a bank account.

The limits of what can be bought using Charge to Mobile are expanding. An expected relaxing of the restrictions placed by the Payment Services Directive (PSD) will soon see it become possible to sell non-digital goods, such as tickets and magazine subscriptions via Charge to Mobile.

Digital content purchases will reach $60 billion by the end of 2015, with 22% of this charged through direct carrier billing.

Techcrunch claimed that by 2017, financial transactions through mobile payments will reach £1 trillion

Mobile content revenues billed to direct carrier billing stand at $2.9B in 2014 and are expected to grow to $5.9B by 2017 (Jupiter Research Mobile Content Business Models)

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About ImpulsePay

ImpulsePay is the leading provider of Charge to Mobile in the UK. Charge to Mobile allows consumers to pay for a wide variety of digital goods and services with their mobile phone and is fully backed by all the UK mobile operators. Mobile is the second most ubiquitous payment method after cash, meaning ease of use for consumers and access to an increased audience for merchants.

ImpulsePay’s mobile experience includes working with major international UK and US customers and partners, including working with Hillary Clinton’s 2008 US Presidential campaign. Current Charge to Mobile clients include Virgin Trains, Spareroom and Cross Country Trains.

The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information: bankcardlife.com?orid=33533&opid=1 .

Source: Company press release.