PayPoint, the UK’s leading payment solution provider, is launching a new partnership with Western Union and will be updating retailers on new transport, calling card and gaming partners at this year’s Convenience Retail Show.

Western Union partners with PayPoint
PayPoint retailers can now become agents for Western Union, the world’s leading money transfer service and earn up to 14% commission^[1] To meet the increasing demand for sending money abroad, Western Union has chosen PayPoint as its exclusive partner to expand its UK network. PayPoint are currently seeking 1,000 retailers to offer this popular and highly profitable service^[2].

Retailers can choose between two effective service options; Staged Service and Full Service, which vary in commission reflecting the retailer effort required. Retail agents will receive full training, as well as prominent Western Union signage and POS to increase footfall into their stores.

Transport Advances for 2006
PayPoint is leading the way in transport payment technology with its proven range of ticketing solutions, particularly in the off-bus / tram sector. Over 6 million customers use PayPoint each week and of these, a significant proportion are also public transport users, making PayPoint the ideal place to sell transport tickets. In the last 12 months PayPoint have seen ticket sales representing 10 million passenger journeys – this looks set to rapidly increase in the next 12 months.

PayPoint works closely with operators across the UK to develop a range of ticketing solutions that can be sold from its established retail network, from Simple to Smartcard ticketing. PayPoint is currently working with Lothian Buses, Arriva, National Express, One-Ticket, Metrolink and First, with other national names in the pipeline for this year.

Calling Cards: high commission opportunities for retailers
PayPoint is prominent in the rapidly-growing introduction of electronically issued or rechargeable versions of many popular phonecard products. With its versatile technology and retail network firmly rooted in local convenience store outlets, PayPoint is well placed to offer overseas calling card operators the ideal platform for migrating customers from scratch cards to electronic.

PayPoint has built up a premier portfolio of electronic phonecard clients including Alpha Tele2, i-Card Telecom, Telco, First National and Nomi-call. Agents have the confidence of selling reliable airtime and earning high rates of commission - one as much as 40% - making calling cards a profitable business for retailers.

PayPoint launches new Littlewoods football pools and gaming partnership
From March, PayPoint retailers across 14,000 outlets will be able to accept the Littlewoods Poolscard for collecting regular Littlewoods Football Pools and Littlewoods Lotto weekly stakes. The partnership with household name Littlewoods Gaming, owned by Sportech, is set to benefit both PayPoint agents and Littlewoods Gaming customers.

Poolscard customers pre-register their favourite numbers and can now conveniently place their stakes at any PayPoint outlet.  The retail service is exclusive to PayPoint and complements the traditional Littlewoods door-to-door Collectors. The partnership marks a first for PayPoint in this market.

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