INTRODUCTION
This briefing provides an overview of developments in micro-payments,
focusing on Western Europe. The first section provides a qualitative discussion
of the potential size of the market. In addition other key issues will be
examined, competitors profiled, SWOT analyses and benchmarking of solutions
conducted. The second part will look at the future of micro-payments.
SCOPE OF THE REPORT
- Conducts research into the type of payment solutions currently being
developed, trailed and offered online for purchases under 10 in value.
- Examines offering from a plethora of interested parties, such as ISPs,
telecoms companies and payment services providers in Europe and the US.
- Provides and reviews consumer data from five key European countries
(France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) and the US.
- Includes results from an online micro-payments consumer survey, which was
designed and rolled out to UK consumers specifically for this brief.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
At the height of the dot.com boom, many online companies employed a simple
business model: attract large volumes of browsers by offering valued content and
advertising revenue would follow. However, as the flaws of online advertising
hit home, merchants faced a key decision, become profitable or fail like many
before them. Charging users for content, in much the same way as e-tailers have
been charging for products and services, has became the obvious answer.
However, most consumers are unwilling to use their credit cards for very
small value transactions. Equally, most content providers are unwilling to foot
the merchant service charges associated with accepting credit card payments on
such low value items as they render this business models uneconomic. The
industry needs a new, secure, convenient and widely accepted online
micro-payments solution to fill this gap that credit cards fail to serve.
In response, numerous payment technology providers, card issuers, mobile
phone operators, telecommunications companies and Internet service providers
(ISPs) are competing to be the first to offer a feasible solution. Of those
reviewed in this report, Datamonitor ranks the P2P solution PayPal as the most
likely to succeed in the long term. However, Firstgate click&buy - the
German micro-payments system that has now been launched by BT in Ireland and the
UK - also looks very promising.
KEY REASONS TO BUY THIS REPORT
- Learn why, despite an urgent need in the online marketplace,
micro-payments have failed to live up to analyst hype.
- Find out why consumers have been slow to accept alternatives to credit and
debit cards when transacting online.
- Discover why PayPal and Firstgate click&buy are currently the most
successful micro-payment solutions.
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