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mopay, a leader in mobile payment solutions for online merchants, today announced its continued global expansion with two new representative offices in Asia. Located in Seoul, Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia, mopay’s expanded presence will support Asian online merchants to grow internationally. Since establishing its regional headquarter in Beijing in 2010, mopay has succeeded in building a well-trusted payment brand among Asian merchants, acquiring over 100 new clients in the region, including Tencent, Shanda Interactive and Changyou. Today, mopay is working with nine out of China’s top ten online game companies.

Asia has dominated the mobile payments market and now represents 40 percent of all mobile payment users worldwide, more than 2.5 times as many as North America, according to Gartner. Direct operator billing is especially popular with online gamers and ranks among the top three preferred payment methods for virtual good transactions in Asia/Pacific.

To expand internationally, Asian merchants are increasingly looking for a partner who understands the importance of a convenient, customized checkout process that can help achieve the highest possible conversion rates. mopay’s new offices are staffed with experienced payment professionals, providing the knowledge that enables online content providers to gain traction in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.

Nora Qiao, Channel Department Manager at Koram Games, a webgame market leader in Asia with subsidiaries in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Malaysia and over 100 million users globally, expressed, “mopay’s in-depth experience as a carrier billing provider is unparalleled in the industry. We have a clear edge over our competition thanks to mopay’s sophisticated billing technology. mopay helped us tremendously in expanding our business overseas.”

“Asia’s online merchants maintain an impressive tradition of providing quality online content that attracts millions of users both locally and internationally,” said Ingo Lippert, CEO of mopay. “The recent opening of two new offices marks just another step in mopay’s ongoing expansion in Asia. mopay has future plans to open two more offices within the next twelve months to further solidify its carrier relations in Asia and provide additional client representatives in the region.”

mopay, a global leader in innovative payment solutions for online merchants, today announced its mobile loyalty management suite, which seamlessly integrates with its payment process. The solution includes customer relationship management, loyalty and gamification tools and now allows mopay clients to add an opt-in feature that enables consumers to sign up for a mobile loyalty program. For the first time, online merchants can immediately communicate with users to improve customer relationship management, build loyalty and improve customer satisfaction.

mopay allows online merchants to accept user payments and process them to mobile, landline and broadband carrier bills. This approach gives online merchants a way to bill users who do not have a credit card or do not want to use their credit card in an online environment; while giving consumers a convenient, secure, and fast way to pay for goods. The core of mopay’s new mobile customer loyalty suite is a customer relationship module that is seamlessly integrated with the payment process. The suite powers news about special deals, announcements and customer service inquiries. The popular “flash deals” application allows users to receive text messages with special deals that are valid for a short period of time. With “flash deals” users can save as much as 50 percent on online goods. Following a six month beta test, the new suite has been adopted by select online merchants.

"Merchants are finally able to build customers loyalty through the mobile device," says Ingo Lippert, CEO of MindMatics AG, operator of mopay. “Our loyalty management suite is yet another way that mopay is innovating and leading the market. By offering our customers a way to communicate with their users in a timely fashion, we’re helping them to build relationships and drive revenues. The integration of our mobile customer loyalty suite shows yet another benefit that mobile payments have over traditional payment methods.”

Today’s most common customer relationship tools, such as e-mail, are being outpaced by mobile innovations. Before the mobile loyalty management suite, online merchants were lacking immediate communication channels to follow up with their customers. Now merchants can deliver special offers, update an order status, or issue customer satisfaction queries. Because mopay has the complete purchasing history connected to a mobile phone number, online merchants can customize and personalize their offers. For example, with this integrated approach merchants can understand which games or virtual goods the user has purchased in the past and make relevant recommendations to drive customer engagement and loyalty.

mopay, a global leader in innovative payment solutions for online merchants, today announced the results of a customer study on consumers’ spending behavior using direct carrier billing. The study captures mobile transaction behavior for more than 300 mopay clients, based on transactions in over 80 countries over the last three years.  The results found that more than 50 percent of direct-to-carrier billing purchases were made by returning customers and revealed new findings about purchases made in the gaming and online dating industries.

The study showed that mobile merchants found direct-to-carrier billing very convenient for their customers, as purchasing processes could be easily completed on the mobile phone itself. Within three years, mobile payments traffic from direct-to-carrier billing grew by a factor of almost four-fold. Repeat users demonstrate that once consumers experience the ease and speed of mobile payments, they often select the method again for future purchases:

• With high conversion rates compared to other payment methods, mopay converts between 52 and 63 percent of all first-time customers within a six-month timeframe.
• mopay converted between 70 and 85 percent of its repeat users.
• Overall, 55 percent of returning consumers completed more than five purchases using mobile payments.

Over the course of the last three years, every one of mopay’s major mobile payments’ industries saw an increase in spending averages.  The data also showed that spending averages differ significantly from industry to industry, ranging from below 2 EUR for various mobile related services, to up to 10 EUR and above for special interest social networking or entertainment offers.

“Based on our data it’s clear that consumers are embracing direct-to-carrier billing as a way to make payments quickly and easily for the online services they use every day,” said Ingo Lippert, CEO of MindMatics AG, the provider of mopay. “Our data shows that half of direct-to-carrier billing purchases were made by returning customers. This indicates that once consumers try our payment approach, they realize just how easy it is to use and continue to use the payment method. As more organizations adopt direct-to-carrier billing and consumers realize this option exists, we anticipate these numbers will continue to rise in the future.”

The study also revealed trends in two key industries:

Gaming & Social Networks: Since online gaming was the industry that first discovered mobile payments as a fast, effective and easy payment method for its users, it was no surprise that mobile payments’ traffic in online gaming is still high, accounting for more than half of mobile payments’ turnover and growing at a rate of almost 30 percent year-to-year. Over the course of the last three years, every one of the major mobile payments’ industries saw an increase in spending average. From slight increases in online gaming (around 10 percent) and leveling off at around 3.50 EUR, to drastic increases in social gaming of almost 40 percent, passing 4 EUR in 2011. The latter is due to social networks establishing themselves not only as communication channels but gaming platforms. Accordingly mobile payments, being an established payment method in the gaming industry, increased by six fold in turnover.

Online Dating: A solid showing over the last three years was made in online dating with direct-to-carrier billing spending ranking among the top-five industries with more than 5 EUR and growing by 25 percent.

The Middle East and North African regions have experienced rapid growth in Internet usage with steady annual growth rates of more than 30 percent over the last three years. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are the leading MENA countries in terms of online users and online penetration. In June of this year, Facebook’s global online growth numbers revealed that Turkey ranked amongst the 10 largest countries on the platform. In the same month, Egypt climbed to number six among the fastest-growing Facebook countries.

A big part of the region’s online growth is driven through mobile platforms. More than 60 percent of all mobile phones in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are smartphones – a percentage exceeding even the U.S., where only 44 percent of mobile phones are smartphones. According to Google’s annual Mobile Planet smartphone study, the majority of smartphone owners in MENA are more willing to shop via mobile than their PCs. 80 percent of Egyptian smartphone owners shop mobile at least once a month, compared to 65 percent in the U.S. and 56 percent in the U.K. These findings indicate that the surging smartphone penetration in all MENA countries will significantly impact overall online commerce in the coming years.

For mopay, these numbers also indicate a strong demand for a fast, convenient and secure payment method at the intersection of online and mobile commerce. Mobile phones, not only smartphones, are the next best thing to cash when it comes to paying in MENA. Average mobile penetration is above 100 percent and never falls below 60 percent even in less developed countries. What is more, mopay complements MENA’s high smartphone penetration and mobile commerce percentage with the ability to bill consumers right on their mobile devices they shop with. With other online payment methods like credit cards seeing considerable lack of confidence among consumers, mopay readily fills that void making a globally proven payment alternative to credit card or bank transfer now available in 15 MENA.

“Although North America, Europe and Asia are the most developed markets in mobile payments, being a global leader for us means closely monitoring every single region and thus identifying market indicators at a very early stage”, said Ingo Lippert, CEO of MindMatics AG, the operator of mopay. “As was the case in South America two years ago, MENA today represents a highly fertile online market environment with above-par mobile penetration. Combined with the lack of an established and trusted payment method, we see a unique opportunity to provide both local and foreign online merchants with a broadly available, easy-to-use and safe way of paying online for their MENA-based consumers.”

mopay, a global leader in innovative payment solutions for online merchants, today announced that Richard Cooperstein has joined its Board of Directors.  Cooperstein, Media Investment Group’s Senior Managing Partner, brings tremendous global strategic expertise and insights in the digital media and technology industries which will contribute to further expanding the company’s product and corporate strategy identifying new market opportunities. With the latest addition to its Board of Directors, mopay gains one of digital media’s true visionaries.

Richard Cooperstein has held operating roles in some of the most influential media and technology corporations worldwide, including Facebook, Disney, Viacom and Time Warner/Warner Bros. International. In his Facebook role, Cooperstein was the original Head of International Business Development and Strategy helping to build the company that now operates the world’s largest social network. In total, Cooperstein brings more than 20 years of industry experience which mopay is now able to benefit from.

“I am honored to join one of the leading global mobile payments providers as a board member,” said Richard Cooperstein. “With the massive progress made in mobile payments within the last several years and mopay playing an integral part in it, I believe that this company is at the helm and is actively shaping the way consumers will be paying in the future. Providing exceptional technology and experience, mopay helps a wide variety of merchants to monetize their products in the mobile space. I am delighted to guide the executive leadership and the Board of Directors at mopay to help the mobile payments business extend into new markets and industries. mopay’s market leading, innovative global payment technology platform will extend online merchants’ reach into broader target groups, geographies and provide increased monetization - a win-win situation in its truest sense.”

“We are very enthusiastic to welcome Richard as a key new member of the Board of Directors”, said Ingo Lippert, CEO of MindMatics AG, the operator of mopay. “Benefitting from the extensive experience and insights of a digital and social media veteran of his caliber, will ensure that mopay will set the pace in direct carrier billing related mobile payments for years to come. As mobile payments continue their ascent through the bulk of digital media industries, Richard will provide valuable vision and guidance for our products and brand.”

mopay, a leader in mobile payments solutions, is pleased to announce that it has won both the Judges Choice and Customer Choice Award in the “Best Direct Carrier Billing” category at the inaugural CNP Awards ceremony in Orlando, FL. The CNP Awards are presented by CardNotPresent.com, the online source of news and information for merchants and service providers operating in the world of card not present and alternative payments, in recognition of excellence achieved in the card-not-present space during the past year.

mopay has a long standing track record in providing innovative payment solutions for online merchants. mopay’s core platform enables merchants of virtual, digital and physical goods to bill charges directly to consumers’ phone accounts. Direct carrier billing creates extra value for consumers who don’t have a credit card but still want to make an online purchase or who don’t want to enter credit card and address details online.

“The jury selected mopay as the overall winner in the Best Direct Carrier Billing category for its highly distinguishable, full-service approach that solves the most important issues that merchants typically face,” commented Steve Casco, founder of CardNotPresent.com and organizer of CNP Expo and Awards.

“We are honored to be recognized with this prestigious award, which is a true testament to our ability to help our clients deploy mobile payments solutions that positively impact customer experiences and the merchants’ bottom line,” said Ingo Lippert, CEO of MindMatics, the operator of mopay. “Our direct carrier billing solutions provided through the globally available mopay platform guarantee a fast, seamless and secure payment process for consumers and new revenue channels for online merchants. We are pleased to be acknowledged with a CNP award for our work driving significant increases in sales for companies choosing mopay’s carrier-based billing solution.”

The winners were selected by a panel of independent judges with deep experience and strong reputations in payments and the card-not-present industry, including Paul Larsen, Managing Partner and Founder of PLC, a card-not-present advisory group, and Polly Bauer, an internationally recognized authority and considered by many to be the preeminent expert on all forms of payment acceptance. Submissions were judged on industry experience, differentiators and relevant metrics. Winners were announced at the CNP Awards celebration held in conjunction with the CNP Expo in Orlando on May 21. The complete list of CNP Award winners in all categories is now available at http://www.cardnotpresent.com