The other day I noticed that many Valio’s ice cream kiosks in Helsinki have started accepting mobile payments. The process is simple enough:
- You choose the ice cream you want and place the order.
- Two phone numbers are displayed at the kiosk; one that you call for a one-scoop ice cream, another one for a two-scoop ice cream. You call the premium-priced number.
- In about 5 seconds, you will get a confirmation message from the number and the line will be hung up. At the same time, the merchant gets a notification SMS of the successful purchase and you’re off with your ice cream!
It’s a very simple system that works well enough for all parties concerned; each kiosk has its own number to call that is tied to a mobile phone of the ice cream girl (as we call them in Finland 
Seriously, 99% of the vendors at ice cream kiosks are young women.). The customer gets charged on his or her phone bill. As no setup is required from the customer and only minimal setup from the merchant, it’s a good system from that perspective. Speed is also quite acceptable; making the call and getting the confirmation message takes perhaps 15 seconds which is not bad compared to fiddling with coins. So far so good.
However, there’s a catch: the price. Paying by cash, the price of two scoops is 2.70eur – paying by mobile phone, it’s 3.37eur. That’s a premium of almost 25% on the price and seriously violates the rule #4 of my rules for mobile payment success. A small premium – like perhaps a price of 2.90eur when paying by phone – is understandable and may be acceptable, but one of 25% is too much.
It’d be interesting to see some usage statistics from the service, but it’s still good to see people trying mobile payments in new places. Especially when solutions like this don’t really cost that much to set up in the first place.
Bumped into the same “phenomenon” at a golf driving range a week ago. At least in Vuosaari Golf you can pay for your balls by calling a 0600-number. Just remember to have a basket at hand before dialling!
I personally don’t mind paying a little extra as it saves me the trouble of withdrawing cash and then buying something in order to get some change – just so that I can hit a few balls.
But as you said, a 25-percent premium is quite a bit of money. It remains to be seen if it’s too much for your average consumer.
Thanks for the info! Next time you’re there, check out whether the service is offered by the same guys (Uphill Oy) as the ice cream one..
So if you call a certain number a machine somewhere starts spewing out golf balls? Hmm, that has some potential for a good (but expensive) practical joke
But this way, you cheat yourself out of the very best part: free little spoon-sized samples of all the flavors!
(Or do they offer free samples at candy shops and ice-cream stores in Finland? It’s the only cure for an indecisive mind!)