Could shopping malls go the way of the dinosaurs? Shopping while paging through a newspaper or magazine and using your cellphone to pay could do that as South Africa becomes the first nation in the world to link cellphone payments to advertising. Globally 700 million consumers will be shopping using their cellphones by 2013, according to Juniper research, already more than 50 million people in Japan shop using their cellphones with a similar number in the USA, millions more in Korea and the Philippines. In South Africa political parties used cellphone payments to fundraise and now Digital Life magazine with Pocit, South Africa’s fastest growing cellphone payment system have pioneered a world-first with ads linked to cellphone payment codes.
“It’s all very simple,” David Reynders, managing director of Pocit said, “Digital Life does monthly reviews of certain products then offers them at dramatically reduced prices to consumers, with Pocit the shopper doesn’t even have to get off the couch. They key in the product code, sms it to us, we then get them to register and pay and route that to the supplier who within 24 hours phones the consumer and arranges delivery. ”This has the capacity to transform newspaper and magazine advertising which has flagged in recent times and takes impulse shopping to a whole new level.
A person in a rural area who wants, as an example, the Pinnacle Video Transfer priced at R1 600 in Digital Life – R335 cheaper than the normal retail price including delivery – doesn’t need to visit the city or go to a computer to use the internet, they simply use the item in their pocket, their cellphone.” Reynders said it could have a significant impact on women’s magazines and those serving the home décor market, “a woman in Johannesburg who sees a beautiful dress in Cape Town can now have it, if the magazine offers this service. The opportunities are endless.”
Patricia Czakan, Managing Editor of Digital Life said, “We at Digital Life pride ourselves on having embraced the 21st century with excitement and enthusiasm. We demystify geek-speak to make technology accessible to the average consumer. We certainly have our work cut out for us, as there are innovations aplenty! But once in a while we stumble upon an innovative concept that has us really sitting up and taking notice. One such innovation is Pocit. With Pocit, we’ve brought impulse buying to the print media.” Cellphone shopping is already common in many countries globally mostly using phones that shoot the card data with banking details enclosed an infrared beam or radio waves to a vending machine or till. No signature is necessary when using the electronic and for small payments at vending machines, the passcode isn't even required. How Pocit extends this technology and makes it even more secure by not using infrared beams, but by allowing consumers to register on their phones using pin codes and to pay direct into bank accounts that way.
In countries like Korea, Japan, the Philippines and the United States consumers use cellphone payments to buy train tickets, a ticket to a baseball game, pay for restaurant meals, services or new furniture. Visa and Mastercard introduced this capacity for their cards in 2006 and now see billions of dollars in sales made with cellphone payments. Unlike a credit card, these systems allow mobile payments without physical interaction with the vendor. Pocit, as a further example, allows people to store money in their cellphones using Pocit Money so that when they go out they never need carry a handbag, wallet or credit card and if the phone gets stolen, the money doesn’t, it’s secure in cyberspace.
Cellphone payments are being integrated into phones and protected by major companies including IBM, Nokia and Verisign. In the United States, McDonald's uses MasterCard's PayPass cellphone payments through more than 20 000 stores. American Express's ExpressPay is available through major chains in the US. Last July, one of SA’s top four banks introduced a payment solution for its 700 000 clients that allows its customers to pay an online merchant using their cellphone. Credit card network Visa has an application to allow in-store contactless payments by cellphone for Google Inc's Android operating system and UK mobile operator O2 is testing wallet phones. MasterCard, Obopay and PayPal have systems that allow users to transfer payments to one another for, say, settling dinner bills or splitting the rent. In the US and England, Amazon TextBuyIt, lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 ("Amazon" on the keypad) from anywhere their cellphones work — including from inside stores. If Amazon stocks matching items, the service returns two results. Shoppers can immediately buy one of the first two by texting back the number "1" or "2," or they can ask for more by texting "M." New TextBuyIt customers will be prompted to enter the e-mail address associated with their existing Amazon account plus a shipping zip code. The service then calls them and walks through the checkout process using an automated voice system. Shoppers get confirmation by sms and e-mail. From there, the customers can check the order status on Amazon's website. “All of these amazing advances mean that shopping is rapidly changing.
Our partnership with Digital Life in allowing people to immediately buy items they read about using their cellphone puts us ahead of global cellphone payment technology and makes shopping, easier, faster and safer,” Reynders said.
Contact information: David Reynders Managing Director POCit E-mail: dave@pocit.co.za 083 327 1611 or 011 575 1025 www.pocit.co.za
