The gap between the phone and the wallet for Americans continues to narrow. Mobile marketing and advertising is coming together with merchants to not only offer mobile payment processing but also to put marketing tools such as coupons in consumers’ pocket.
Merchants have long been facilitators of customers making payments and in the mobile era, they are seeking new ways to make buying a product as easy as pulling out your smartphone. Mobile app developers have noticed these trends and now offer marketing alongside mobile payment processing. Companies such as Yowza, Loop, and Groovv offer programs that benefit merchants and customers alike.
Yowza already has an app that consumers have downloaded a reported 2 million times that allows for mobile payment processing at the point of sale. Yowza uses a reseller program to reach a wide distribution of merchants across the country offering a new mobile payment method alongside a new avenue for marketing. Resellers find merchants and for a fee can offer the platform plus marketing as a package or separate deal.
Loop, based out of Boston, is another company that offers a mobile payment service that actually registers a card-present transaction. Using their phone, customers can swipe on a magnetic stripe as though the phone was a credit card completing a card-present transaction. Loop creates a magnetic induction field between the phone and the stripe that registers as the chosen credit card and subsequently requests authorization for the card-present transaction.
The third company, Groovv, represents a mobile payment processing app that focuses on creating a dialogue between the merchant and the customer. These methods for communication allow the merchant to spread the word of a sale, a special offer, or send exclusive coupons. With unprecedented opportunities for personalized messages, merchants can connect better with their customers who are always connected to the internet.
The new wave of mobile payment processing apps and marketing strategies promise to keep merchants on the cutting edge of mobile technology. As the apps continue to build credit card databases and offer digital wallet services, they will continue to attract merchants looking for new, innovative ways to grow their business.