More than 15 years ago, telecom carriers seemed like the logical candidate to handle ecommerce and other third party billing. But high commissions as high as 30 percent ruled them out for handling most billing accounts, after a fast start with porn and other services.

Now, Sprint is re-entering the third party billing arena and will compete with credit and debit cards via its Pinsight Media mobile ad network. The #3 U.S. wireless carrier with 50 million subscribers, has signed a deal with LevelUp to be one of several processors of its bills.

Customers who choose to pay with Sprint at any of the 14,000 merchant locations that take LevelUp will receive a 10 percent rebate as an added incentive. Those spending $100, for instance, will get $10 back.

Speaking at Money2020 this week in Las Vegas, LevelUp Founder Seth Priebatsch said the advantage of teaming with Sprint is that it is “frictionless” and “easy to set up.” The ace in the hole is working with Sprint’s ad network, with is working with 150+ enterprise apps. The ad network can boost restauranteur and retail affinity and allow for users to target based on geo-location, demos, interest/social profiles and LevelUp App Usage.

Sprint is the only mobile carrier who can provide fully integreated mobile ads with carrier billing,” noted Priebatsch. He would not comment on what LevelUp will pay for Sprint billing, although costs will likely be partially defrayed by the use of the ad network.

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Phone-based digital payments haven’t really taken off – in part, because they aren’t much easier to use than credit/debt cards. You’ve still got to take them out of your pocket.
The notable exception is the phenomenon of My Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, which now has 10 million Starbucks customers actively using the mobile app, twice the number of a year ago.

But if “wearables” take off – i.e. smart watches and to a lesser extent, glasses – there could be rapid growth. In fact, payments are the most practical smartwatch feature (aside from telling the time.)

LevelUp leader Seth Priebatsch told Marketwatch that has always been his vision. The company currently provides an Android app, which automatically asks users if they’d like to pay by using the App when they are near favorite merchants.

“What we really always dreamed of was being the largest smartwatch payment network,” said Priebatsch, noting that LevelUp already claims 1.5 million smart phone users, who can pay at 14,000 locations. With wearables, the sky is the limit (perhaps).

Seth Preibatsch talks with Mark Fratrik at a recent BIA/Kelsey conference

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As traditional local media players begin to lose some of their prominence, the search for alternative local sales channels has become increasingly important. The channel currently being explored: payment processors, which normally focus on selling Point of Sales systems.

Processors start out with a technological advantage; the “big data” from consumer purchases can help produce offers, rewards and other incentives. In addition to their large reach, processors already handle related issues that put them top of mind with SMBs as trusted business partners, such as payment processing, as well as credit/debit card management.

The first significant sales deal with a processor channel started with a pilot program last October between LevelUp, the Boston-based transaction marketing/loyalty company, and Heartland Payment Systems, which works with 250,000 merchants and is the fifth largest payment processing company.

LevelUp had built up a local sales force of about 25 people in eight markets. The local sales efforts had been moderately successful for such a new business concept, resulting in 6,500 business relationships. But the pilot with Heartland caused the company to shift its approach. After the pilot, LevelUp decided to focus more on its product offering and reach, and less on building its own branded services and local sales forces.

Heartland’s own perspective is that there are rich opportunities in working with companies such as LevelUp, and extending beyond payment processing sales. In a conversation with BIA/Kelsey, Sarah Owen, Heartland’s Executive Director of Mobile & Retail Payment Strategy (and former First Data executive) notes that it makes total sense for processors to begin selling consumer-centric solutions.

The relationship with LevelUp is a “perfect marriage,” says Owen. It would almost be unnatural not to pursue broader solutions, she says. “We ask ourselves: What types of solutions and brands do we need to support that consumers need to use? It is not just about payments. It is about launching and driving consumer behavior.”

Owen notes that the company has 800 of its own feet-on-the-street sales reps. “We are already talking to merchants about payments,” she says. “We act as a consultant to merchants in their acceptance of payment strategies. We help merchants understand what they need to do with a POS” to drive customer adoption and lower costs.

This post is an edited excerpt from a newly published BIA/Kelsey client Briefing: “Payment Processors as Local Sales Channels: A Look at the Heartland/LevelUp Relationship.”

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Loyalty and engagement programs are now flooding the local ecosystem. They see themselves as the next step up from daily deals. At the same time, they hope to be more effective than “buy 10 get one free punch cards,” according to execs from LevelUp, Swipely and Closely who were among those who spoke at Street Fight Summit West in San Francisco.

LevelUp’s John Valentine said results from his company’s loyalty program are already apparent. The discounts and loyalty points give consumers a better feeling of value, and in a review of 500 locations, have resulted in consumers paying 7 percent more on average compared with regular tabs, he said.

Valentine acknowledged that the audience is self-selective. The fact that they have an iPhone suggests they’re more affluent. But it has “gone beyond the cool factor,” he said. “Using a phone for paying is becoming more normal.”

Mostly, however, Valentine said, the race is on to gain a strong customer base. LevelUp claims 200,000 users after just nine or 10 months, and it is growing 20 percent month over month. It winds up paying $5 to $8 apiece for customer acquisition, he said. Even if the industry does a fast switch into NFC, and starts working more with entities such as Google Wallet, “we don’t care,” Valentine added. “We will have a base of customers” and will be in a position of strength.

Swipely’s Angus Davis, meanwhile, suggests it is not going to be so easy getting that customer base. “Acquiring consumers is very difficult,” he said. Swipely’s approach is to build up customer loyalty, and after several months of experimentation, get them to develop restaurant specific loyalty programs.

Ultimately, it is all about fostering more repeat business for restaurants, said Davis. Sixty percent of their business comes from repeat business. Getting customer engagement and providing rich analytics will win merchant accounts over from the legacy of credit card accounts, “where bifurcation and crust has built up.”

A different approach is being taken by Closely. CEO Perry Evans said that the key is to give merchants “tools that get to the heart of loyalty.” Evans is especially intrigued by CardSpring, the new loyalty and promotions platform that allows consumers to opt in to various deals and services. It puts incentives in front of consumers at a time that makes sense. “You want to give them the remote control so they can turn things on and off and decide what channel they want,” he said.

“Consumers are living their lives facedown into their phones and into their network,” said Evans. “Shopping decisions are becoming more live and based on a new combination of quality [review related] and price [putting incentive in front of consumers at time it makes sense]. Give them the remote control to turn things on and off and give them a channel,” he said. That will beat Facebook. “The tools are not there. It centers only around the display ad category.”

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