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Product cover image for SmoothPay: Growing a Mobile Payment User Base

SmoothPay: Growing a Mobile Payment User Base

Jacob Halliday; Linying Dong

Product #:9B16E032
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Entrepreneurship, Information Systems
Setting:Canada, 2015
Details:Case (PDF) • 10 pages • 2016-11-07

Subjects:

StrategyTechnology and analyticsEntrepreneurshipInformation systems

Industries:

Information technology and telecom sector

Geography:

CanadaNorth America
Your Price:$9.71

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SmoothPay, a 14-people start-up in Canada that offered mobile payment and loyalty solutions, enjoyed initial achievements after its launch in 2014. In less than two years, through industry partnerships and community engagement, SmoothPay grew to have over 100 merchants in its system, with over 5,000 users. However, the future was full of risks and uncertainty: businesses and consumers in Canada were both slow in adopting mobile payments, and, as a small firm, SmoothPay had not yet established brand awareness. SmoothPay’s management needed to address several key challenges. How could SmoothPay differentiate itself from its many competitors? What strategic direction should the company take? What market should SmoothPay target to enable sustainable growth?

Learning Objectives

This case is ideal for exploring mobile payment technologies and identifying strategies for continuous and sustainable growth of entrepreneurial start-up firms. The case can be used at the undergraduate and graduate levels in courses on information technology, strategic management, and emerging technologies, with the following learning objectives:
  • Develop a comprehensive understanding of the history of mobile payment and the technologies currently used for mobile point-of-sale systems.
  • Analyze and assess a company’s business model and strategy.
  • Analyze the industry landscape, assess the business model and strategy, and identify the next strategic move.
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Case Study: SmoothPay: Growing a Mobile Payment User Base (English version) | Ivey Publishing