Cash is King on the High Street, but what about online?
23/4/2008
With 60 percent of UK retail transactions in 2007 using cash, up from 54 percent in 2006*, predictions of the coming of the cashless society would seem to be premature.
But whilst the reasons for the rising use of cash are complex, the reality is that the choice to use cash is still largely confined to High St transactions. Online consumers are mostly forced to use credit or debit cards, complete with risks to both the consumer and the merchant.
“The cash customer has been largely forgotten in the internet shopping revolution”, says Mark Chirnside, CEO of Ukash. “There will always be a very substantial group of people who don’t have or won’t use their cards online so it’s important from both a commercial and social perspective to ensure that they’re not excluded from the benefits of buying online.”
Ukash is a simple and secure way for traditional cash consumers to buy goods and services in the online marketplace. Consumers exchange cash for Ukash vouchers and are returned a unique 19-digit number, which they submit to pay for goods and services online. Ukash is issued at thousands of locations worldwide in convenient locations such as post offices, grocery stores and petrol stations and can already be redeemed at hundreds of websites, with more to come.
By accepting Ukash merchants gain incremental sales from the large number of consumers that prefer to pay in cash or increasingly have reservations about submitting their card data online. Ukash also allows the large market of consumers without a debit or credit card, including key groups such as teens, to benefit from eCommerce. Since Ukash is prepaid, the merchant costs and risks typically associated with chargebacks and repudiation are eliminated.
“All online retailers should be accepting Ukash as it opens up the benefits of the web to a hugely important and previously unreachable group of consumers”, concludes Mark Chirnside.
Ukash representatives will be available at Internet World 2008, taking place at London’s Earls Court from Tuesday 29 April until Thursday 1 May, on their stand E424a.
*British Retail Consortium: TOUGH TIMES PROMPT CASH COMEBACK April 21, 2008
©2008 Smart Voucher Ltd
Smart Voucher Ltd. (of which Ukash is a trading name) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution. Smart Voucher Ltd (trading as Ukash) FSA Register Number: 447811.