The ease and expediency of paying online for items has been
further accelerated in recent years by the emergence of mobile platforms and
today, with ecommerce figures as of 2014 in the neighborhood of $1.3 trillion,
or nearly 6% of global retail sales, the market for mobile payment and digital
transaction technologies is hotter than ever. Forecasts by eMarketer put
ecommerce as climbing more and more rapidly too, with projections that by just
2018 the sector will account for 8.5% or more of all retail, led by the U.S.
and China, at around $500 billion and $1 trillion respectively.
Needless to say, this environment has created a firestorm of
activity in areas ranging from traditional card payment technologies, to the
latest in mobile payments, and so Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) has been
squarely focused on solidifying their global footprint as a prominent provider
of integrated mobile and transaction services/processing, as well as true
payments-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, primarily through their core operating
subsidiary, TOT Group. Organized as a holding group designed to cover both the
online and offline payment markets through its operating divisions like
tablet-based POS system focused Aptito and payment processing services focused
Unified Payments, TOT Group provides full-spectrum coverage to its growing
customer base via highly optimized and easy to implement solutions that allow
cashless transactions at the point of sale (POS), as well as the comprehensive
m-commerce transaction processing, and the information/merchant terminal
management services required to fully execute an end-to-end payment solution.
The recent announcement by NETE that they have extended
their reach into the chip-enabled EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa), card
management systems and mobile payment technology markets, through a strategic
partnership with the TAS Group, will help to further cement the company’s
already strong foothold on the global stage, with improved traction for
enhanced EMV solutions here in the U.S. being one of the most important
results. TAS Group is a global provider of cloud and mobile-spanning sales
intelligence capabilities through their unique sales methodologies and
context-aware insight apps, which help progressive sales organizations, like
cloud services-focused online content and business applications optimization
and security specialists, Akami (NASDAQ:AKAM), maximize revenues from their
most important accounts.
This strategic, joint-promotional relationship with TAS
Group will grant NETE significant advantages in key target regions like the
U.S. and Latin America, as well as the Russian Federation and CIS (Commonwealth
of Independent States), in addition to important ancillary target markets like
India, the Middle East and Africa, where EMV proliferation has the most room to
grow. The ability for NETE merchants using the Aptito POS system to instantly
issue EMV secure prepaid and specialty gift cards, is a superb selling point
for the company and the joint promotion of TAS’ all-in-one EMV-ready prepaid
system, TAS Campus, will help to increase Net Element’s presence in the
education system’s growing transaction space substantially. Between NETE
getting access to TAS Group’s proprietary technology and TAS Group’s promotion
and reselling of NETE’s portfolio of offerings to their clients, the strategic
relationship should prove fruitful indeed, especially as Net Element moves to
expand their global mobile payments and PaaS footprint this year.
With a 13.3% jump in revenues year-over-year to $21.2 million
for 2014, led by a considerable increase in revenues from their transaction
processing business, as well as a full migration of mobile business operations
to their proprietary billing system, and a reorganization of the mobile
payments business towards positive operating cash flow, NETE is well-poised to
expand mobile payments this year, especially in growth markets like India and
the Middle East. The company hit an all-time record high in January this year
as well, showing how healthy their mobile payments business truly is, with over
1 million subscribers. The closing and integration of the PayOnline
acquisition, a flexible ecommerce payment solutions provider with over 3k
company clients around the world, but primarily focused on the CIS, Eastern Europe
and Central Asia, helped to further establish the company’s presence in those
regions. A presence already made firm by the success of their premium SMS and
mcommerce gateway, TOTmoney.ru.
Russia is going to be an important growth market for Net
Element moving forward and the company is quickly achieving all of the
technical and logistical requirements needed to successfully execute an
omni-channel PaaS platform that will allow local businesses all over the planet
to implement a truly modern transaction architecture.
To learn more about Net Element, visit www.netelement.com
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MissionIR is committed to connecting the investment community with companies that have great potential and a strong dedication to building shareholder value. We know our reputation is based on the integrity of our clients and go to great lengths to ensure the companies represented adhere to sound business practices.
Sign up for “The Mission Report” at www.MissionIR.com
Please see disclaimer on the MissionIR website http://www.missionir.com/disclaimer.html
