Braintree says its vision for the future of e-commerce received a significant boost when the online and mobile payments provider lured a Google Inc. executive into its fold last month.
Aunkur Arya, a former head of value-added service partnerships for Google Wallet, joined the staff at Chicago-based Braintree as general manager of mobile.
Prior to his work at Google, Arya was part of the core business team and led mobile app business development efforts at AdMob, a leading mobile advertising network for developers that Google bought in 2010. It became Google’s primary mobile ad platform.
Arya shared his vision for Braintree and the mobile payments landscape with PaymentsSource as he begins his role as the front man for the company’s mobile initiatives.
PaymentsSource: Much has been said about Google Wallet’s challenges in obtaining issuers and consumer adoption. Do any of Google’s issues translate to what Braintree will experience as it further develops mobile commerce?
Arya: Braintree has been working hard to redefine the online and mobile payments space since its founding in 2007. Much of the innovation you’re seeing from big technology companies has been focused on trying to reshape the consumer payment experience in the store via digital wallets and other related services. Braintree has spent the past few years building relationships with thousands of big and small online merchants, with a laser focus on trying to fix what’s been broken with e-commerce from the merchant’s perspective. Essentially, you could say Braintree built a merchant platform that created a great experience for consumers, too.
PaymentsSource: Is the sky the limit with Braintree, or is there a danger in getting too far ahead of yourself with mobile payment goals as, maybe, Google did?
Arya: We’re not insulated to the problems that other companies face, but we’ve had tremendous success solving problems for merchants and consumers. I’m very optimistic about the longevity of Braintree’s platform – we’re building a company for the long term. With our recent acquisition of Venmo, a mobile social payments application, we’re in a position to weave in a strong consumer proposition to the nearly 35 million registered cardholders on the Braintree platform. We’re processing nearly $5 billion in annual payments, 25% of which is coming from mobile, and that business is growing fast.
PaymentsSource: The thought of a Braintree mobile wallet certainly comes to mind. Would Braintree consider a move into the point-of-sale setting, as PayPal has?
Arya: Some companies, such as Square, are doing this extremely well in a physical setting. Braintree’s philosophy is that a mobile device can make the point of sale anywhere — at the airport trying to book a last-minute hotel room, searching for a comfortable ride home after a downtown meeting or ordering food online while walking to your apartment. You may not see a card reader or other hardware from us, but will definitely see Braintree powering more and more of your everyday transactions.
PaymentsSource: What was it about Braintree that made it an attractive location for you?
Ayra: There’s a tremendous opportunity here to change the way commerce happens on your mobile phone, and I couldn’t pass that up. It was a pretty easy sell.
PaymentsSource: What key factors must fall in place over the next few years for mobile payments to capture consumer attention and trust?
Ayra: We’re already seeing smartphones as a big part of e-commerce. A recent study by comScore on U.S. mobile shopping behavior estimated that 4 in every 5 smartphone users – 85.9 million people in total – accessed retail content on their device in July alone. More than 20% of all e-commerce sessions are happening on mobile devices. Obviously, there’s a clear intent to find and purchase.
PaymentsSource: So is something missing from the puzzle?
Ayra: The checkout experience is the next key piece, and we’re powering the most seamless mobile checkout today. We need to see more merchants aggressively streamline purchase flow to allow consumers to pay securely with one-click or less, and provide a secure mechanism for easy sharing of payment credentials across various apps and merchants.
PaymentsSource: What would be a significant one-year goal for the general manager of mobile at Braintree?
Ayra: One important goal is to develop relationships with thousands of mobile merchants and developers who are happily using Braintree and successfully improving conversions for mobile purchases. I want to help the ecosystem make the transition to mobile-first commerce and give merchants the platform and tools they need to deliver an awesome experience for consumers.
PaymentsSource: Sounds like a full plate.
Ayra: I’ve got a lot of work to do.
