Prepaid Partner Selection for a Mobile Wallet Launch

The Challenge

In 2014, a large tech company wanted to eliminate the vulnerabilities of plastic credit cards and create a seamless, private digital wallet. But they were stuck with who would be a good prepaid account partner for the complex relational product and they needed specialized knowledge specifically around economics.

Solution context

Company executives felt that earlier attempts at mobile payments failed because they prioritized business models over the customer. This company was designing a system that seamlessly blended with the tech users already carried. Instead of fumbling with physical wallets, the goal was to let users tap their phones or watches to pay in-store. It also brought one-touch checkout to retail. In order to do that, it needed to be prefunded. Who was a good partner to provide that technology to such an important project?

How E&S helped

• - Lay out the prepaid technology providers with pros and cons of each so that a decision to narrow down the field could be made quickly and efficiently

• - Setup face-to-face meetings with the reduced options so that each could get to know one another

• - Create a detailed economic model of every trigger point possible so that the Company's analyst could understand exactly how to negotiate and structure the partnership deal

• - Provide a roadmap for future partners, as the solution grew and scaled