wiGroup: the total mobile POS package

Mobile payments and transactions is a huge market, especially in South Africa and Africa where people are more likely to have an internet-connected phone than a credit card. The number of apps that facilitate transactions is staggering. Because of this, entering the space is tough for any competitor. Taking this into account, one company is trying to drive innovation rather than join the noise by creating a platform that links apps to retailers. This is wiGroup.

Calling itself a mobile technology business, wiGroup is bridging the gap between retailers and app developers with a platform that connects them at the single point of POS.

“Every day we are seeing new transaction apps in the market which have the potential to simplify life for consumers and add value for retailers,” says wiGroup CEO Bevan Ducasse, “from new ways of distributing coupons, vouchers and rewards to mobile money transfers and mobile payments. That being said, it isn’t feasible for every retailer to individually enable every app at their point of sale (POS), no matter how wonderful these may be – the task is just too complicated, time-consuming and expensive.”

The current barrier, as wiGroup sees it, is that for an app to allow transactions at POS, it has to be integrated to the retailer’s POS.

The solution that wiGroup offers is an open platform that allows any retailer to plug-in and connect with any mobile transaction app provider… integrated to its own platform. It’s the best of both worlds. In effect it is a centralised place for app developers to gain access to all participating retailers, and a place for retailers to get access to participating applications. Ducasse feels that the wiGroup platform “removes the single biggest barrier to the growth and potential of the mobile transaction industry.”

The wiGroup platform has taken a long-term market view, making the application programming interface (API) completely open as Ducasse notes, “we believe that in the long term, only an open ecosystem can survive and deliver value to all…through this positioning our retail footprint is growing daily.”

The wiGroup platform is currently in place across a number of major local retailers including Pick n Pay and the Shoprite group, as well as enjoying traction in the hospitality and fast food sectors.