Category: Mobile Payments

Facebook continues adding Buy buttons to advertisements

Facebook is looking to play a larger role in the in-app retail space, introducing a “Buy” button on advertisements that are featured on its social networking site. The company sees great promise in the mobile commerce space, but has yet to find any success therein. While many consumers access Facebook and other social media sites through their mobile devices, they have yet to rely on these platforms when it comes to shopping.

Retailers may benefit from new mobile shopping features being tested by Facebook

Facebook is not only including a Buy button on all its Canvas advertisements, it is also rolling out new features that will make it easier for retailers to sell products on their Facebook pages. These features are meant to give retailers a better way to engage mobile consumers, who are beginning to shop online more regularly with their smartphones and tablets. New mobile shopping features are currently being tested in the United States and Facebook has yet to announce a point where these features will see a worldwide launch.

Instagram is already finding some success in the mobile commerce space with its own Buy buttons

Facebook’s Instagram has already become involved in the mobile commerce space. Instagram has rolled out Buy buttons on its advertisement formats, which have already proven quite effective for retailers. The social network is also relying heavily on consumer-driven discovery, with many Instagram users exposing their friends to new products that they may not have known existed before. This discovery is leading to more frequent mobile shopping among consumers, especially among those using social networks.

Mobile commerce is growing quickly in the Asia Pacific region, with social networks playing a more influential role therein

Mobile commerce is experience strong growth, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, where smartphone penetration is accelerating. In Hong Kong alone, mobile shopping has grown by 35% since 2012. Social networks are expected to play a much larger role in the continued growth of mobile commerce in the coming years, as consumers and retailers will rely more heavily on these platforms.

The company from the U.K. has now connected itself with the interbank payments network in the Asia Pacific Country

VocaLink, from the United Kingdom, has now signed an exclusive letter of intent with Thailand’s interbank payments network operator, National ITMX, in order to look into the development of a mobile payments system that would function over real time within the APAC nation.

VocaLink is the company behind the operation of the Faster Payments rails in the U.K., among other projects.

Under the Zapp brand, the company will also be launching a national “Pay by bank” mobile payments app in the U.K., with the support of that country’s banks. The architecture for the Faster Payments system has already been implemented in Singapore, where it is the foundation for the Fast payments service in that country. Now, VocaLink will collaborate with NITMX in order to offer real time smartphone transaction services to merchants, banks, and consumers, built on an instant payment capability platform based on the ISO20022 standard.

National ITMX selected VocaLink as a mobile payments partner due to its strong and extensive history.

The managing director of National ITMX, Wanna Notarbhorn, explained that “We chose VocaLink as a key partner because of their proven track record in the delivery of both the UK Faster Payments Service and Singapore’s ISO20022 FAST real-time payments systems. We believe they are best placed to help us identify options for delivering efficient and reliable mobile payments services in Thailand.”

From the time of the Faster Payments program launch in the United Kingdom in 2008, the system has processed more than 4 billion secure transactions. The VocaLink managing director of strategy, products, marketing and business development, Paul Stoddard, stated that this experience in the United Kingdom is a direct reflection of the benefits offered through real time tech throughout the payments sector and into the broader economy.

The mobile payments partnership between the two companies was first announced in Singapore at the international Sibos conference. That event placed smartphone based transactions under an important spotlight when it came to worldwide introduction and adoption by businesses and consumers alike.