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Startup Stories: 1st Pay Gateway
Filling the Void Cloud-based POS system helps 1st Pay Gateway’s merchants optimize and secure mobile payments By John Manasso
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hen Tom Fraser founded 1st Pay Gateway in 2010, he envisioned the creation of a point-of-sale (POS) system that would incorporate top-notch security. As it would happen, three years later high-profile security breaches at large retailers such as Target and Neiman Marcus—not to mention other incidents along the way—would validate the need for such a product. Forty million debit and credit card accounts were hacked between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013, at Target. At Neiman Marcus, one of the country’s best known upscale retailers, more than 1 million cards appear to have been compromised. 1st Pay Gateway’s ideal customers are not merchants at as vast of a scale as those. However, in terms of security needs, small merchants are no different than their larger brethren. Fraser says 1st Pay Gateway’s system is “one of the very few” that provides end-to-end encryption. “Out there in the industry we felt there was a void for people providing those kinds of services, especially in the ISO and agent market,” says Fraser, the company’s president and a long-time veteran of the payments industry whose career has included stops at First Data and Walker Interactive Systems, which became Elavon. “So we focused on providing a unique value proposition with superior service and sales support with the combination of innovative products targeted for merchants that are serviced by the ISO and agents but also with an emphasis on credit card data security.”
Analytics Answer Small merchants, seemingly in large numbers, are migrating to iPad-based POS systems. As a result, 1st Pay Gateway con-
1st Pay Gateway | Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Tom Fraser
Ray Kenney
figured its solution to work with the iPad.The system features remote reporting and analytics. The Cloud-based platform brings Big Data to small merchants, says Fraser. 1st Pay Gateway also plans on launching a proprietary gift card platform and a loyalty program to go with its system. “The analytics are really powerful,” he says. “They show small merchants what’s selling, what’s not selling, and also their product margins to help them maximize their revenue and profitability.” Fraser and Ray Kenney, vice president of sales, provided some insight into the granular nature of the analytics that their software provides: Merchants can track what they sell along with what Fraser called “modifiers.” He used the example of a coffee shop that can track the added flavorings that customers purchase for their drinks.
www.1stpaygateway.net
Founder: Tom Fraser Employees: 15 Transaction trends | March 2014 29