Postilion, a division of S1 Corp., has announced a deal with Zapa Technology to provide its core payments platform for Zapa's new mobile prepaid top-up, loyalty and gift card processing services in Europe. Zapa says it expects to rely on contactless and near-field communication to drive customer acquisition and improve the consumer experience.
Zapa's ZAPA TAG comprises an NFC sticker that can be placed inside or outside the mobile phone, which collects loyalty points or holds stored value. Consumers wave an enabled phone across the ZAPA terminal, located at the retailer's POS, to redeem an offer, access a service or collect loyalty points. Postilion allows Zapa to centrally manage loyalty points and contactless transactions and provide detailed reports for usage analysis. Zapa can later add payment services as retailers diversify from prepaid top-up to other offers, such as gift cards and lottery ticket purchases.
Zapa says it is launching the service in Ireland, with later plans to branch out to other European markets:
 | The Zapa system will be available as a white-label service to retailers in Ireland, the U.K. and continental Europe, providing them with a fast and cost-effective alternative to in-house contactless payments development. Zapa anticipates that loyalty applications will drive the initial push, with an emphasis on creating a universal system to support multiple retailers. In this scenario, a single ZAPA TAG would access separate branded wallets on the customer's mobile display, showing loyalty points accrued from each retailer. |  |
