Q&A: Paul Barclay, VP of leisure, entertainment and technology at Skrill
Paul Barclay, VP of leisure, entertainment and technology at Skrill talks to eGR Mobile Intelligence about the importance of integrating one-click payment solutions on mobile
eGR Mobile Intelligence (eMI): Could you provide some background on the 1-Tap technology and this weekâs deal with Betfred?
Paul Barclay (PB): The industry now is very much mobile-led. With merchants like Betfred, most of its transactions are now done via a mobile phone or a tablet, and Skrill has developed capabilities for these payments to be made quicker and seamlessly.
Normally a consumer would come on a mobile phone and to make his payment have to enter in all his details and card numbers time and time again, each time he wants to do a bet. Weâve developed a technology where once heâs logged onto his account then within that environment he just needs to press the 1-Tap button to seamlessly process the transaction to Betfred. Itâs quicker, easier and slicker and causes less interaction.
It gives a higher probability that the transaction will complete and the consumer will bet with Betfred. Itâs a compulsive and intuitive product that enables payments to be made quicker and faster.
eMI: Was there anything unique to the mobile sector that had to be taken into account when developing the product?
PB: All of our innovation, all of our development and all of our technology is led by our customers. We have a huge portfolio of the gambling sector and before we go and build products, we beta test and capability test with them to make sure it is the product the customers will use.
We always do pre-testing and beta testing to ensure that the product works as required by the merchants, so technically it can be integrated across all platforms and weâve configured it for all sales channels.
eMI: How important is it to have this one-click payment functionality?
PB: The industry â and itâs not just gambling, this is retail and other sectors â if on a strategy or roadmap isnât thinking that they are leading their business in taking payments and interacting with consumers via mobile channels, then in my opinion their business will suffer.
To give an example, weâve seen with other merchants that with 1-Tap integrated there has been an increase in consumer spend of 15% month on month.
eMI: Betfred have obviously taken this on and bet365 have this too, is the method currently being investigated by other operators?
PB: If I was the managing director of William Hill for example, and my business wasnât thinking that the way forward was a one-tap, mobile option, then Iâd be concerned. Look on the majority of the operators that compete with Betfred, most of them are now integrating now one-tap payment products.