CONCARDIS

A New Reality for Retailers

Payment services have been developing fast in recent years, and retailers cannot ignore the shift to cashless payments, Marcus W. Mosen, CEO of ConCardis GmbH, says.

With some 30 years’ experience in the card acceptance business, ConCardis has grown continuously to become a leading European provider in the acquiring business. What have been the main milestones and achievements of ConCardis since you joined the company back in 2013?

In recent years, ConCardis has built a respectable market position as one of the leading European acquirers for credit and debit cards. The company has a strong customer base, a very solid financial structure, great expertise in cashless payments, an experienced team and strong shareholders in the form of the German banking industry. We are using these assets to achieve further growth in our core region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. By increasing our stake in the point of sale (POS) network operator Cardtech in Cologne and acquiring REA Austria, we have strengthened our position in network operations.

In the field of new POS technologies, we brought the mobile POS solution ConCardis OptiPay to market. With this straightforward and low-cost solution for retailers, we are addressing a customer segment that was previously not using any cashless payment methods at all. Many retailers are currently experiencing increased interest in cashless payments, with more and more consumers asking for cashless payment options. ConCardis OptiPay offers retailers a low-cost, entry-level solution that is also easy to set up.

As far as point-of-sale applications are concerned, it is outside the mainstream that things get really interesting. In late 2014, we acquired a strategic stake in orderbird, an iPad-based payment system for cafes and restaurants. iPad-based point POS systems are seen as leading the market in the German- speaking parts of Europe. This acquisition not only boosted our position in this market segment, but also gave us access to the innovative world of fintech.

The payment market is going through a lot of changes. What are the reasons for that?

There are a number of reasons. One of the most important is ongoing digitalisation. This applies to a company’s business processes, to technical upgrades on the part of consumers and to payments themselves. For companies, it is the digitalisation of business processes that makes multichannel sales a simpler affair. As far as consumers are concerned, everyone can go shopping with their smartphone or iPad today, and more and more people are doing just that. Significant changes are taking place in the world of payments too.

Can you explain this a bit further?

In the old days of payments, you had a terminal on the counter that recorded the transaction via a credit or debit card. The customer’s account was debited accordingly, and the retailer received the money. That was it and that was the way people traditionally thought of it. Today’s payment solutions have to respond to different sales channels, while value added services and topics that are closely linked to it, for instance customer retention, focused marketing and pricing, are becoming increasingly important. The commercially relevant potential that is tied up with payments is also responsible for shifting the subject further up the priority list of senior company managers. We are registering increased interest in the topic of payment, especially with our key accounts. Today, our customers also involve us much more in matters of corporate design and strategy than they used to, especially when it comes to user experiences and user interfaces in e- and m-commerce. We are a sought- after partner here and have recently expanded our competence in this area.

”Many retailers are currently experiencing increased interest in cashless payments, with more and more consumers asking for cashless payment options.”

Marcus W. Mosen, CEO of ConCardis GmbH

Security matters are crucial in the payment sector. Do new products such as mobile payment or near- field technology for contactless payments represent new security risks or new security challenges?

New processes and technologies give rise to new demands in terms of security. So it is important to treat these things with the utmost care. One good example is the implementation of the European Banking Authority’s standards for online payments, known as SecurePay. The payment industry will have to find new solutions to new challenges. The card organisations MasterCard and VISA have already brought customer and retailer oriented solutions to market with their electronic wallets MasterPass and V.me.

I believe ConCardis is well prepared for these new challenges. Furthermore, I have the impression that all market players are very well aware of their role and their responsibilities, and that applies to us too. ConCardis is regularly certified, for instance in terms of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and ISO 9001:2008, while our staff are trained frequently. We take the subject very seriously and are currently developing our capacity and know-how in risk management.

Mr Mosen, what will the payment market look like in three years’ time, and where will ConCardis be then?

The payments landscape will change a good deal in the next three years. Many retailers are currently implementing new payment infrastructures, and the old generation of visible POS terminals will hardly be in use in a few years’ time. The consolidation process in the payments industry itself will also continue. Many young fintech companies will eventually be acquired or will set up partnerships with established providers. ConCardis will be in the thick of it and will play an important role in the new market that emerges. This is what we are working towards.