Mobile transacting booms in SA

Mobile phone-based transactions are booming in South Africa, with wiGroup’s transaction platform, wiPlatform, at the centre of a growing ecosystem that processed over R1.5 billion during the first 10 months of 2013.

‚”The number of mobile transactions through wiPlaftorm grew by over 500% in the first six months of 2013, and that growth is strengthening each month,‚” says wiGroup CEO Bevan Ducasse. ‚”The market has clearly realised the value of the open platform approach, which makes it easy for retailers, app developers, agencies and brands to work together, without having to make expensive and difficult changes at the point of sale.‚”

As the attached infographic shows, wiPlatform sits at the centre of a large ecosystem that connects retailers, brands and agencies to online communities, mobile wallets and apps and banks to make in-store mobile transacting easy for everyone.

Ducasse says wiPlatform enables retailers to accept any mobile wallet, payment or mobile transaction application they choose: ‚”In a market that moves as fast as mobile, trying to make exclusive agreements is a quick route to failure. The openness of this platform is what makes it work.‚”

Retailers clearly agree: wiPlatform is now live at over 40,000 till points across 15 national retailers, including Pick n Pay and the Shoprite group as well as major food and beverage chains.

In turn, early-adopting agencies and brands have used the platform to run a series of campaigns that have reinvigorated traditional voucher and coupon-based marketing. ‚”Using mobile as the delivery mechanism has huge advantages,‚” says Ducasse.

‚”Redemption rates are as high as 50%, and every voucher can be tracked from the minute it’s issued to the minute it’s redeemed. That gives marketers a level of insight into consumer behaviour they’ve never had before.‚”

Over two million vouchers and coupons have been processed so far.

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