Mobile payments company Bango plc (LON:BGO) has enabled a new payment method for customers of global online retail behemoth Amazon.
Amazon customers with a KDDI or NTT DOCOMO mobile phone account can now pay for physical goods from Amazon.jp by simply adding the cost of the goods to their mobile phone bill.
The system saves all the faff of adding a credit or debit card to an online account and remembering the three-digit security code and so on.
Shares rose 11.8% to 142p on the news. Bango’s shares have doubled in price this year.
"Internet usage in Japan is mobile-first, with billions of dollars in online purchases charged to Japanese consumers' phone bills" said Ray Anderson, Bango’s chief executive officer.
"The Bango platform ensures global retailers can offer these customers the trust and transparency they want from a payment method, and can deliver this at scale," he added.
Research house Progressive Research said it was a significant direct carrier billing launch.
“Bango Platform technology is enabling customers on Japan’s two largest mobile operator networks to purchase physical goods from Amazon Japan, charging the cost to their phone bill. We believe this is the first carrier billing payments service for physical goods from Amazon,” Progressive said.
“The announcement contains no details on the terms of the transaction and for now we make no revisions to forecasts. Nevertheless, with the Japanese e-commerce market estimated at US$100bn annually and Amazon the market leader, we expect the deal to be substantial for Bango,” it added.