HONG KONG - Inc. predicts that the number one game-changing trend for 2013 will see mobile payments replacing cash and smartphones revolutionising the way businesses do marketing. The figures coming out of Asia seem to support this. Market research firm Analysis International recently predicted that by 2015, mobile payments in mainland China will top RMB712.3 billion.
In June 2012, the number of mobile phone service subscribers was nearly 16 million in Hong Kong SAR, representing a penetration rate of about 221% while research by Datamonitor states that two out of three Singaporeans are open to new mobile payment technology.
Businesses from all over the world including bpost, CARDMatrix, CreditCall, Datacard Group, eGENTIC, Evolis Asia, HID Global, Hybris , Keynetics, Logomotion, mPowa,TRUEB AG , OTTO Kuennecke, Payneteasy, Reasonable, Secure Mobile Technology, Smartrac Technology Group, ST Microelectronics and Watchdata will join this year’s CARTES Asia and NEW co-located exhibition and conference E-Commerce Asia to showcase e-commerce and digital marketing solutions, and secure solutions for payment, identification and mobility. The fourth edition of the high-level global conference and exhibition CARTES Asia and the very first edition of E-Commerce Asia will take place at AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong on 27 & 28 March 2013.
James Mckeogh, Director, Management Consulting, KPMG China, says: “2013 promises to be an interesting year for payments in Asia and the mobile channel specifically. The main players in the ecosystem are beginning to show their colours and release their strategies and offerings to the market. But making the most of the opportunities available to them is going to require cooperation amongst themselves, clearly understanding how the new capabilities can be monetised and continuously keeping the customer's interests at the centre of their innovations.”
As well as innovation in mobile payments, it is predicted that smartphone ecommerce mobile marketing will become even more sophisticated. More and more consumers are using their phones to buy goods and services meaning business owners will be able to follow up individual purchases with targeted coupons, rewards and other special offers such as those currently used by loyalty card operators. Entrepreneurs are making their mark in ecommerce mobile marketing with digital based loyalty programmes enabling businesses to customise rewards for loyal customers across a wide range of food and beverage outlets.
Michael Weatherseed, Director of Security Events, Comexposium, Paris and organiser of CARTES Asia and E-Commerce Asia said: “CARTES Asia and E-Commerce Asia are the events to source suppliers of cutting edge payment technology and a great research base to gather knowledge on future trends. At these high level events professionals from across the banking, retail, marketing and smart card industry will find international leaders alongside smaller regional businesses showcasing their banking, loyalty, retail, alternative payments: mobile money, P2Ptechnology as well as innovation in e-commerce.”
During E-Commerce Asia, speakers from nearly 45 companies including Babygram, Brandtology, Dell, Email Vision, Glam Girl International, HP Asia Pacific, Groupon, L’oreal, Mindshare, Sa Sa, TNS and We are Social will present on ecommerce and digital marketing areas including data strategy and digital eco-systems, lead generation, marketing effectiveness and measurement at the E-Commerce Asia conference. The concurrent CARTES Asia conference will feature another 40 seminars with speakers from Datacard, Oberthur, Oracle, Sony, Thales e-security and Visa on topics including:
• Prepaid / Loyalty Programs
• ID Management & e-Government
• Contactless Applications (RFID, NFC…) for Payment, Transit and Security...
• Mobile & IT Security / Cloud
• M2M session (in partnership with SIM Alliance)
• eCommerce, mCommerce, just Commerce!
• Developing the right e-commerce strategy
• Maximizing your e-commerce ROI
• Social capital for marketing
