In a move which heralds the start of its plans to globalise its proven electronic transaction service offerings, JSE-listing Prism Holdings has signed a multi-million Rand deal with UK-based PayShop.
Effective May 31, 2000, the deal will see PayShop rolling out the EasyPay technology developed by Prism`s transaction processing subsidiary TranSwitch Services (TSS). TSS currently provides secure electronic payment services to major SA retail organisations including Pick `n Pay and Shoprite Checkers and is looking to expand on a franchise basis into Europe and beyond.
PayShop is a new company headed by Rob Farbrother and Dick Horsnell, both co-founders, former shareholders and senior executives of PayPoint, the bill payment service currently operating in the UK. Prism CEO Alvin Els says PayShop has the potential to become Prism`s primary global services franchise operator.
"Prism has long stated that globalisation forms part of its long-term goals. In order to achieve this, we will require quality partners of the calibre of PayShop`s management. They have enormous experience in the same space as TSS, and our relationship could expand into Prism taking an equity stake in PayShop in the future," he adds.
The first national PayShop implementation is scheduled to go live in Portugal in early 2001. It will enable PayShop to collect, process and manage payments received on behalf of suppliers of goods and services, including telecommunications and utility providers, via a network of terminals and pay-points in retail outlets.
According to Farbrother, the service is aimed at the customers of telcos and utility companies who do not pay their bills via direct debit/bank transfers. The payment methods available to PayShop customers will be cash, cheque, credit card, debit card, and pre-payment as well as via the Internet and mobile GSM telephone network.
"It`s not just in the UK of South Africa where suppliers of utilities, which use PayPoint and EasyPay respectively, want a more cost-effective and convenient way for their customers to pay their bills. Our market research reveals that demand for this service extends across many countries as deregulation increases pressure for suppliers to become more consumer-friendly.
"Consumers appreciate the service for the convenience of being able to pay their bills at the local retailer who is often open late seven days a week. Retailers welcome it for the increase in their general trade and Bill Issuers recognise it as a more cost-effective method of collecting payments," he explains.
Farbrother says PayShop opted for Prism`s technology engine because of its proven efficacy on a national scale, as well as its ability to accommodate the virtual payment requirements of the Internet and, in the near future, the m-commerce (cellular) environment as well.
"Our experience in Portugal over the years marks this as the ideal location in which to launch PayShop. It`s a country of some 5-million households - many of which are cash dependent - coupled with a sophisticated banking sector. Several major Bill Issuers, including Portugal`s largest electricity and telephone suppliers, have already committed themselves to assisting with the implementation of the system.
"Once our pilot programme in Portugal is in place, we will move to establish it in other European and South America countries as well as Japan, all regions in which PayShop management has worked in the past. Our goal is to establish a franchise scheme in which we will partner with local entrepreneurs to run a focused PayShop service," Farbrother concludes.
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