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Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Focused On Expanding Mobile Payment, Transaction Processing & PaaS Footprint In 2015
The ease and expediency of paying online for items has been further accelerated in recent years by the emergence of mobile platforms and today, with ecommerce figures as of 2014 in the neighborhood of $1.3 trillion, or nearly 6% of global retail sales, the market for mobile payment and digital transaction technologies is hotter than ever. Forecasts by eMarketer put ecommerce as climbing more and more rapidly too, with projections that by just 2018 the sector will account for 8.5% or more of all retail, led by the U.S. and China, at around $500 billion and $1 trillion respectively.
Needless to say, this environment has created a firestorm of activity in areas ranging from traditional card payment technologies, to the latest in mobile payments, and so Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) has been squarely focused on solidifying their global footprint as a prominent provider of integrated mobile and transaction services/processing, as well as true payments-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, primarily through their core operating subsidiary, TOT Group. Organized as a holding group designed to cover both the online and offline payment markets through its operating divisions like tablet-based POS system focused Aptito and payment processing services focused Unified Payments, TOT Group provides full-spectrum coverage to its growing customer base via highly optimized and easy to implement solutions that allow cashless transactions at the point of sale (POS), as well as the comprehensive m-commerce transaction processing, and the information/merchant terminal management services required to fully execute an end-to-end payment solution.
The recent announcement by NETE that they have extended their reach into the chip-enabled EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa), card management systems and mobile payment technology markets, through a strategic partnership with the TAS Group, will help to further cement the company’s already strong foothold on the global stage, with improved traction for enhanced EMV solutions here in the U.S. being one of the most important results. TAS Group is a global provider of cloud and mobile-spanning sales intelligence capabilities through their unique sales methodologies and context-aware insight apps, which help progressive sales organizations, like cloud services-focused online content and business applications optimization and security specialists, Akami (NASDAQ:AKAM), maximize revenues from their most important accounts.
This strategic, joint-promotional relationship with TAS Group will grant NETE significant advantages in key target regions like the U.S. and Latin America, as well as the Russian Federation and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), in addition to important ancillary target markets like India, the Middle East and Africa, where EMV proliferation has the most room to grow. The ability for NETE merchants using the Aptito POS system to instantly issue EMV secure prepaid and specialty gift cards, is a superb selling point for the company and the joint promotion of TAS’ all-in-one EMV-ready prepaid system, TAS Campus, will help to increase Net Element’s presence in the education system’s growing transaction space substantially. Between NETE getting access to TAS Group’s proprietary technology and TAS Group’s promotion and reselling of NETE’s portfolio of offerings to their clients, the strategic relationship should prove fruitful indeed, especially as Net Element moves to expand their global mobile payments and PaaS footprint this year.
With a 13.3% jump in revenues year-over-year to $21.2 million for 2014, led by a considerable increase in revenues from their transaction processing business, as well as a full migration of mobile business operations to their proprietary billing system, and a reorganization of the mobile payments business towards positive operating cash flow, NETE is well-poised to expand mobile payments this year, especially in growth markets like India and the Middle East. The company hit an all-time record high in January this year as well, showing how healthy their mobile payments business truly is, with over 1 million subscribers. The closing and integration of the PayOnline acquisition, a flexible ecommerce payment solutions provider with over 3k company clients around the world, but primarily focused on the CIS, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, helped to further establish the company’s presence in those regions. A presence already made firm by the success of their premium SMS and mcommerce gateway, TOTmoney.ru.
Russia is going to be an important growth market for Net Element moving forward and the company is quickly achieving all of the technical and logistical requirements needed to successfully execute an omni-channel PaaS platform that will allow local businesses all over the planet to implement a truly modern transaction architecture.
To learn more about Net Element, visit www.netelement.com
