Mobile payments have become the new buzz word within the Nigerian financial space. This has seen the launch of several platforms such as Pay with Attitude, Pay with Capture, Naira Box, and Zoto. While these platforms have deployed innovative means to capture the Nigerian mobile payment space, such as deploying contactless payment, loyalty points, and cross-platform mobile applications; they have failed to catch the fancy of consumers. As such, they have had very low adoption rates. This article aims to propose new means of capturing the mobile payment space.

One of such means is prioritizing small business. The bulk of transactions in the economy is carried out by small businesses, as such, they need to be focused on when deploying infrastructures and creating processes for the mobile payment. This is because expensive and cumbersome processes tend to be a burden on small business owners who would want to minimize cost and ease transactions with their customers.
Another way is rewarding customers with free stuff. This would entice customers to download and use the mobile payment platform. This can be achieved by partnering with merchants to provide free stuff for customers who use the mobile payment platform in their store. For example, a customer can get free lunch on Friday at a restaurant when he uses Pay with Attitude or get two cinema tickets when he pays for one with Naira Box. This is not a silver bullet on its own, as it needs to be constantly promoted and seen by the consumer as something they would benefit from.

Also, constantly attaching discounts and other forms of promotions can entice consumers who are very price conscious. This also on its own can be a silver bullet when combined with constant advertisement and promotions. This is also by partnering with several merchants to offer premium services and goods at a lower cost to the consumers. As such, the consumers benefit with a price discount, while the merchants benefit by increased consumer traffic and a high turnover in profits.

Equally, helping consumers discover hotspots or merchants’ location could spur loyalty by the consumer who now depends on the mobile payment platform to discover hotspots and merchants’ offering goods and services that the customer desires. This would in return compel merchants to register with the platform as they would desire to be discovered by consumers thus increasing traffic to their business.
Lastly, by deeply integrating the mobile payment into the merchants’ business, a new user experience is created breeds customer loyalty. For example, the ability to pre-order food from the mobile payment app before arriving at a restaurant, or pre-order a concert ticket or a movie ticket. This is one of the features that gives mobile payment leverage over cash which is an angle that needs to be exploited by mobile payment companies. As such, customers would prefer mobile payment when they can see a distinctive edge over cash payment.