In the past, transferring money to a different country was a huge problem (and for some bankers it still is). Besides the hassles involved in paying people overseas if for some arbitrary reason you don’t have a credit card or PayPal, this could never be done with total security from a cell phone.
On 15 July, however, a U.K. based payments firm called World First launched a mobile app that enables users to make currency transfers from a portable device.
“With the World First Money Transfer App, our clients will now be able to send and receive money from overseas in just a few minutes,” Alex Sullivan, managing director of World First U.K., said in a statement.
“They will also be able to track the progress of their payments, calculate the exchange rate with the currency converter, check live rates and read our award winning blog analysis and insight directly on their mobile phone,” said Sullivan.
The app can be downloaded and other app stores for free, making it a quick and easy way for users to get access to this first-of-its-kind application.
SnapScan, similarly, is a QR based payment system you can download onto your smartphone. You register your name, address and debit/credit card details (which you scan via your camera) and then you will be able to simply scan a code and make a payment straight from your phone.
The reason why these nifty new apps can quite literally change the marketing landscape is because it lets companies strike while the iron is hot. With shopping carts on websites, users have a lot of time to re-think their purchases (and many of them click away before completing a purchase). If, however, you’re able to give a potential client exactly what they need, when they need it – and a very easy way to purchase it immediately – you’ve got a quicker way to take them down your sales funnel.
Just as So-Lo-Mo (social-location-mobile) marketing helped companies to connect and engage with their ideal customers exactly when they needed to, these mobile payment apps are going to help brands process transactions in a quicker and easier way.
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