Inter-industry collaborations in the Swedish mobile payments market

Abstract: The rapid development of technology is quickly changing the everyday lives of people, and it is now possible to use a mobile phone to pay at the checkout in stores. However, being able to pay with a mobile phone has no intrinsic value over existing payment methods, and thus banks have to find a way to add value to their mobile payment services through inter-industry collaboration with other actors. The aim of this report is to find how banks can collaborate with other actors in order to strengthen their brand in the mobile payment business. Through a literature review and several interviews with representatives in the financial industry, merchant sector, and academia, this report answers questions related to the market in Sweden, dominant design, network externalities, business collaboration, trust, and co-branding. This report found that there is a difference in prioritization regarding features and qualities of mobile payments between different segments in the market, and banks should choose a segment to focus their efforts on. There is also a need for discussion in the market between different actors in order to promote the standardization needed to develop mobile payment services further, and banks should therefore collaborate with other actors regarding standards, even if the collaboration does not need to involve resource sharing. Co-branding with other actors could also be a way banks to enhance their brand in mobile payments and reach new market segments. Trust is a critical factor for the success of mobile payments and the handling of customer data will be one of the biggest issues to solve for the banks and their collaborators. Finally, the most important conclusion of this report is that the banks have to find a business model which is attractive enough to the merchants in order to attract them in collaboration and be able to create added value to mobile payments.