UKASH
SPONSORED EDITORIAL
PAYMENTS FOCUS
Ukash has addressed consumers’ increasing appetite for ecommerce and has thousands of retailers who accept Ukash online
and play safely online, conveniently and with their privacy assured. Players exchange their cash for a unique single use 19-digit code, which can be used to pay directly at thousands of websites. It really is that simple. Research shows that there has been a 52% increase in usage of cash online industry-wide in the last ?ve years. Ukash, however, has seen an 80% growth in the gambling sector over this same ?ve-year period, reinforcing the notion that cash is still ‘king’ for players, especially with the added advantages of privacy and security of bank details. Ukash has addressed consumers’ increasing appetite for ecommerce and has thousands of retailers, ranging from jewellery, leisure and fashion, who accept Ukash online. Additionally, Ukash gives its consumers access to a gift card shop, which enables them to purchase from the UK’s top 50 brands including M&S, Amazon and B&Q. eGR: The payments industry within the gaming sector is becoming increasingly crowded. How do you differentiate from the competition? CD: Understanding the customer’s needs on a global level and offering players and the consumer a wide variety of choice in payment options is the key to differentiation. Ukash customers are made up of consumers/players, retail partners who distribute Ukash and operators/web merchants who accept Ukash payments. The business is focused on ensuring we understand the needs of all of these groups to enable the development of both existing and new innovative products and services. We carry out a quarterly customer survey to gather feedback and suggestions for Ukash services. Additionally, Ukash account managers work closely with merchants to ensure we are constantly ful?lling our commitment to be the most efficient customer acquisition tool. Finally, because Ukash has a low integration cost and is intuitive to install, once operators make the decision to proceed with Ukash, they can be live and accessing new revenue streams promptly. eGR: Do you offer marketing support to your merchants and how is the success of these campaigns measured? CD: In 2012 Ukash won the eGR ‘Payments Company of the Year Award’, which recognised Ukash’s joint operator initiatives to drive acquisition through joint marketing promotions. Ukash has partnered internationally with a number of high pro?le brands including 888, when we ran a joint campaign targeting the Mexican poker and casino player. We also partnered with PokerStars to offer Canadian poker players the opportunity to win a seat at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). This campaign was a huge success and was recognised at the Canadian Prepaid Awards as the ‘Best Prepaid Marketing Campaign’, driving a 17% increase in redemptions. We also understand the importance of convergence, and recently partnered with Gala to target existing land-based players to play online using Ukash. We’re always keen to work with new and existing gambling merchants to create joint marketing promotions. eGR: Player protection is a hot topic within the gaming industry at the moment. What speci?c advice do you offer players and operators? CD: As with any payment method, there are some simple safety and security tips to follow and Ukash offers advice to its players to treat their Ukash codes with the same security as they would with physical cash. We ask all players to only use Ukash with merchants listed on the Ukash website. Ne ?\? \?HZ?\???][\? \??\?Y???H?\??{? YYY ???]?H HZ?\???H ?[?[?H[ ?H?H[XZ[??\? H ?K??H?Y\?\? ?X??]H \ ]?Y]H ?] \ ???? ? ?^H ?Y?H ?[? \?[??Z?\? ?Y][?[ K ?H ??? ?]?^H\??Y\??[? H?\?[?\???[?\?Y?[YHY?[??H
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