PayPoint launched its bill payment service in Romania in late 2008, since when it has signed up all the country’s major utility suppliers, as well as leading companies in financial services, insurance, cable TV and mobile telecoms. PayPoint also offers top-up services for all the mobile operators in the country (Cosmote, Orange, Vodafone, Zapp), for landline operators providing international calls and for Internet Service Providers, including EasyComm, Nobel and Worldtelecom (Number One).

Over 99% of UK households are situated within one mile of a PayPoint agent in urban areas or five miles in rural areas.  Convenience and the long opening hours of PayPoint agents are the key benefits of the service in the eyes of PayPoint customers.  More than two-thirds of PayPoint customers live within quarter of a mile of a PayPoint agent and the average agent is open from early morning to late evening seven days a week.

Research conducted by Ipsos MORI in October 2010 indicated that 98% of consumers using PayPoint are satisfied with the services, with 83% very satisfied. These rates have remained consistent for the last four years.  The service is provided free of charge to consumers.

The Ipsos MORI industry research consistently shows that the PayPoint terminal is viewed by consumers as an essential service that helps to cement the retailer into its local community and 95% of PayPoint users say that they would be personally affected if their local store were to close.

Retail services

PayPoint provides value added content and services within each channel, which differentiates the PayPoint proposition from competitors.  In the case of the retail channel, this differentiation is achieved through providing retailers with a broad range of retail services, including ATMs, parcels, SIM cards and international money transfer.

PayPoint is a member of LINK as an Independent ATM Deployer (IAD) and operates approximately 2,500 machines (26 May 2011) on a self-fill basis. Retailers use their own cash to fill the machines, removing the need for a secure cash delivery organisation. Retailers benefit by recycling cash taken in their store, some of which is subsequently spent in the store on the same visit, and from reduced banking charges. In most cases, consumers pay a surcharge (or ‘convenience fee’) for each cash withdrawal.

Retailers are able to offer their customers facilities to pay for all their purchases made in the shop by credit and debit cards using hardware and systems provided by PayPoint and linked to the PayPoint terminal.

Collect +

Launched in 2009, the Collect+ parcel delivery service is a joint venture between PayPoint and Yodel (formerly Home Delivery Network). Consumers are able to return unwanted mail order goods through participating PayPoint stores; mail order and online retailers can offer their customers the option of having their goods delivered to a participating PayPoint retailer, thereby avoiding failed delivery and subsequent, inconvenient trips to the carrier’s depot; small businesses can despatch their goods at a PayPoint retailer for delivery to another PayPoint retailer nominated by the customer; and consumers can send parcels to each other via PayPoint retailers, or directly to the recipient's home. Collect+ is used by a wide range of mail order and online retailers and is a preferred option on eBay.

INTERNET PAYMENTS

Through its subsidiary, PayPoint.net, PayPoint is a leading processor of online payments (Payment Service Provider, or PSP) by credit/debit cards, with a wide and diverse portfolio of large and small clients. PayPoint.net offers its customers a bureau service, whereby PayPoint.net takes a higher return for retaining the merchant credit risk, enabling it to work with a broader range of merchants than other PSPs and giving it a distinct market differentiation through specialisation in risk management and fraud screening, and an ISO product reflecting greater willingness among sponsoring banks to take on such merchants’ credit risk. PayPoint.net offers its clients additional security through its FraudGuard anti-fraud solution that identifies suspicious activity by analysing a range of transaction, behavioural and other criteria.

Cash Payments for web transactions

PayCash embodies PayPoint’s unique ability to leverage the online transaction processing capabilities of PayPoint.net with its network of 23,000 retail outlets in the UK to enable consumers to pay in cash for transactions they make online. People without bank accounts or credit cards are able to benefit from the financial advantages and deals available online which they would otherwise be excluded from, while PayCash offers an alternative to people who are unwilling to provide personal credit card details online.

Instead of paying online, PayCash customers print a barcoded receipt, which they take to any PayPoint retailer, who scans the barcode, takes the cash payment and PayPoint automatically informs the merchant that payment has been made, enabling the goods to be despatched. As a result, PayCash attracts new customers into the retail outlet, expands the market to those without cards and helps online merchants avoid fraud and credit card cashbacks.

MOBILE PAYMENTS - PAYBYPHONE

Through its subsidiary business, Verrus, PayPoint is a leading international provider of services to parking authorities, allowing consumers to use their mobile phones to pay for their parking by credit or debit card.  It operates under the Verrus and PayByPhone brands and has contracts in the UK, France, Canada and the USA.

PayByPhone is usually offered as an alternative to other payment channels such as meters, pay and display, pay at barrier and attended car parks. In some instances (such as in the majority of Westminster), PayByPhone is offered as the primary means of payment.  The introduction of PayByPhone has been shown to render substantial increases in revenues and reductions in cost to parking authorities or operators and is increasingly being adopted around the world.