5 Best Use Cases for Mobile Top Up APIs

According to the GSMA industry report,  Mobile top ups  represented in values (ie. USD) 3.6% of total mobile transactions which would translate to approximately $10b USD worth of yearly mobile top ups. The industry for mobile top ups is growing in the international markets as more and more expats / migrants are looking for alternative ways to send value to their loved ones back home. Most of these transactions originate from a mobile top up API provider who then offers their solution to  retail partners that have the customer base to sell top ups on a store level, a website or a mobile app.

The international mobile top up market is still at its early stage giving the comparison to the $500 billion dollar a year market for money remittances around the world. We at Reloadly believe that the mobile top up market on the international level should reach closer to $25 billion in the next few years. This boom will come mostly due in part when digital channels will want to piggy back on mobile recharge APIs to sell to their existing customer base. Currently over 95% of the mobile top up transactions are done on a retail store front level. As more people are adapting to smartphones, increased data and app usage, so will the demand for mobile top ups throughout these non traditional digital channels. For example, lets take a look at these 5 best use cases that can apply a mobile recharge API into their exiting apps.

Mobile Top Up API Use Cases

1. 1. Money Transfer Apps: The most obvious use case would be to leverage the existing customer base from the money transfer companies, especially those MTOs who offer the service directly to their end users (B2C) using a mobile app or via their websites. By implementing a mobile recharge API, they can easily leverage their existing customer base to create stickiness to their brands and also generate a substantial amount of revenues. The average money transfer company can generate about $500k a month in mobile airtime / top up revenues by adding a mobile recharge API in their existing networks.  Hence, Money Transfer companies are a perfect partner for mobile recharge API service.
   2. Currency Exchange Apps: Travelers or Expats usually travel to a foreign country with their local currencies and when they arrive to their destinations, they usually want to exchange their currency for the local currency. There are hundreds of apps that provide real time exchange rates and services. For example most airports around the world has a currency exchange booth to change your money upon arrival. This vertical channel can also benefit a great deal by adding a mobile recharge API to their platforms, apps and websites. Most of their customer base are travelers who will use a prepaid mobile phone that will need reloads of airtime, and these customers would be happy to have a one stop shop for time saving and less headaches.
   3. Travel Apps: As we transition through this digital transformation the core challenge for travel brands in today’s fast-moving world is to gain the attention and loyalty of consumers. Mobile is at the heart of true customer engagement for travel brands, with apps leading the way. As new technology unfolds the rate of change will accelerate even faster than it ever has before and travel brands need to assess what technology will enable them to connect with their customer at every step of their journey.  By adding a mobile recharge API to existing travel apps, users will have the ability to recharge their prepaid phones will abroad. This simply feature can gain customer loyalty and stickiness to a companies brand while generating additional income. Its a win win for the travel industry.
   4. Mobile Money Apps: The mobile money industry is now processing a billion dollars a day and generating direct revenues of over $2.4 billion. With 690 million registered accounts worldwide, mobile money has evolved into the leading payment platform for the digital economy in many
      emerging markets. Mobile money users can load their accounts or send a load to their families abroad, and these apps can allow the users to also top up the mobile phones by integrating a mobile recharge API in their apps. Most of the users of mobile money are in emerging countries, where over 80% of the mobile subscribers are prepaid. Its a no brainer how mobile money apps can benefit a great deal by adding a mobile top up API to enable their customers to reload their phones.
   5. WiFi Apps: a WiFi sharing app is a community of travelers or nomads that travel the world and share / post WiFi passwords in key places like restaurants, hotels, bars, and any other place that requires a WiFi password. WiFi apps have grown to surpass 200 million downloads and its a growing community. The owners of these apps usually try to monetize by adding digital ads. Another ingenious way for these apps to monetize with their communities is to offer mobile recharge. Add a mobile top up API can generate a substantial income for these free WiFi apps that already have millions of users.

Conclusion

There’s still a disconnect between developers and mobile top up services. There’s already a few companies that offer a mobile recharge APIs, but for the most part they either have an outdated technology with over complicated APIs or an old school business process with lengthily contracts and lots of restrictions. This all makes it very difficult for app developers to even get started with their APIs. In contrary, Reloadly is the only mobile top up API company that has built a developer first approach. Reloadly’s APIs are public with beautiful documentation and. getting started is easy with a self-service registration process, no contracts and no restrictions.  Within a few minutes any developer can get access to their API keys and start building. With Reloadly mobile top up API, its easy to add mobile recharge service to your apps or sites with a network coverage over 600 mobile operators world wide. If you want to learn more visit www.reloadly.com or get your free API key today to get started.