Mobile services at Orange

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators, with 269 million customers worldwide and a presence in 29 countries. Especially in its home market, France, at quite an early stage when there were no comparable products in the market, Orange identified great potential for mobile payment solutions thanks to a high level of acceptance.

At the same time, Telecommunication markets are typically very competitive, so it made sense for Orange to stand above the competition and to enhance customer loyalty by offering a unique feature. This also matched Orange’s larger road map to evolve from a telecommunications company into a provider of integrated and mobile services.

Orange therefore decided to take a pioneering role in mobile payment with support from Wirecard. The company’s goal was to create an intelligent ecosystem for mobile payment and commerce alongside their partners, customers and users.

Together with Wirecard, Orange developed the mobile payment solution Orange Cash. The virtual wallet uses an NFC SIM card to securely store a digital Visa card, or alternatively works with Apple Pay. It The solution was gradually introduced in France in 2014, followed by rollouts across Spain and France in 2015. Wirecard has been responsible for implementing and developing all technical and financial processes according to Orange’s design and other requirements. In addition to security, a high level of usability was a central focus of the development.

Orange customers can use this flexible payment application to make contactless payments at NFC-enabled terminals worldwide simply by topping up their card ahead of time. Alternatively, they can use it online: For this purpose, a single-use credit card is generated within the app in real time, which customers can use to purchase from their chosen online store for 24 hours. Customers can also take advantage of fast and easy peer-to-peer money transfer to anyone who uses Orange Cash with their mobile wallet, such as to subsequently split a bill at a restaurant.

Orange Cash users also benefit from additional offerings that are tailored to their needs. Thanks to modern couponing and loyalty systems from Wirecard, retailers can create individual buying incentives before, during or even after a purchase, using various promotional methods, such as gift vouchers, discounts, loyalty points or cashback deals. In this way, for instance, it is possible to highlight special offers or discount campaigns via the Orange Cash app, providing another reason for customers to visit the shop. This benefits everyone concerned: shops gain more customers, consumers are happy about all the discounts and vouchers they receive, and Orange is pleased about high app user numbers.

The Orange Cash app has been very successful since it was launched at the end of 2015. By the end of 2017, more than 500,000 users had conducted more than three million transactions in over 250,000 different stores, and the figures are continuing to rise steadily. In addition, more and more retailers are participating in the Orange Cash program each month.

Apart from offering easy and secure mobile payment, from Orange’s point of view it has proved to be both a very valuable tool for customer loyalty and for attracting new customers. Thanks to its great success, Orange Cash has been continuously expanded; recently, a special feature was added for young people’s allowances.

The recent launch of Orange Bank marked yet another major milestone: it’s the first all-in-one mobile payment and banking app in France.