Retail News South Africa

Call it in

SMS-based payment systems are not restricted to banks as is the current perception, but are also available for use by customers of retailers, property management companies, direct marketers and other suppliers of goods and services.

Cobus Potgieter, CEO of MoPay, states: "We are currently supplying systems to a number of SA companies that enable them to offer their customers SMS based invoices and monthly accounts, which the customer then reply to per SMS to pay there and then, from any SMS-enabled phone, from any debit/credit card or bank account, from anywhere in the world.

"There are also many additional capacities which we can offer to individual enterprises, mobile network operators, card operators and banks."

The MoPay systems are also available to the Small and Medium Business sector and the educational community and a bundle of additional support services have been assembled.

Many of the security issues and risks, specifically pertaining to card details and claw-backs, regarding e-commerce and credit cards generally are avoided by the MoPay systems and the progression to m-commerce enabled websites from e-commerce sites, is one of the MoPay focus areas: "Bottom-line is, according to current clients of the MoPay systems, that not only do they and their clients experience real cost savings but also enhanced service and security levels, with the commensurate expansion of their markets."

SA and the rest of Africa are experiencing an exponential uptake of cellular communication and MoPay hopes to play some role in offering more services to people with limited access to banking services, Potgieter says.

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