Mobile Wallets’ Business Models: Refining Strategic Partnerships

Buchinger Uschi (), Ranaivoson Heritiana R. and Ballon Pieter
Additional contact information
Buchinger Uschi: iMinds-SMIT-Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 9, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Ranaivoson Heritiana R.: iMinds-SMIT-Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 9, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Ballon Pieter: iMinds-SMIT-Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 9, 1050 Brussel, Belgium

Organizacija, 2015, vol. 48, issue 2, 88-98

Abstract: Background and Purpose: Though Mobile Wallets have the potential to entirely substitute their physical predecessor, many Mobile Wallets narrow their operations to one particular feature. This might be because of strategic business- model design choices to position themselves strategically as intermediates between users and business partners (third parties) in more delimited markets. Thus, Mobile Wallet Applications (MWAs) often represent platforms in narrow two-sided market structures. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper focuses on the economics of such platforms by the means of a business model analysis. It examines how business partners are integrated in four MWAs’ strategies: Key Ring, FidMe, Apple Passbook and Qustomer. Results: The paper shows that MWAs strive to incorporate not only a large quantity of partners but also such with a high brand value (quality of partners) in their organization design. These partners shape their service design since none of the platforms offer products or services themselves. Hence, MWAs are dependent on the third parties’ capacity and willingness to fulfill engagements and meet the customer demands. Conclusion: MWAs - though concerned with the inclusion and management of loyalty points and schemes - do not leverage the possibility to generate revenue via third parties’ loyalty points. Theoretically, MWAs could reward or redeem loyalty points themselves.

Keywords: mobile wallets; mobile wallet applications; loyalty schemes; business models; two-sided markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/orga-2015-0011 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:organi:v:48:y:2015:i:2:p:88-98:n:6

DOI: 10.1515/orga-2015-0011

Access Statistics for this article

Organizacija is currently edited by Jože Zupančič

More articles in Organizacija from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().