The Mobile Money Network, a system set up to make electronic purchasing easier for consumers, has won the backing of global payments business and financial services provider Visa.

By making it easier for customers to order goods for UK couriers to send out to various destinations, as well as allowing them to engage with a number of new m-commerce initiatives, the network hopes to offer a boost to UK businesses.

It already works with a number of leading British retailers, including Thorntons and Carphone Warehouse, and will be buoyed by the news that Visa has opted to take a 15 per cent stake in the business.

The two corporations are expected to work together to encourage the take-up of m-commerce initiatives across the UK, with the Simply Tap process whereby customers can use their mobile phones to buy items online more easily seen as a potentially crucial development in driving ecommerce sales.

Moving forward the initiative is expected to allow consumers to buy items with their phone in a variety of scenarios, including when seeing them in print, online or in the store.

Peter Ayliffe, chief executive of Visa Europe, said this move indicated the depth of Visa's interest in engaging with the mobile payments network emerging across the UK.

He added that the company expected more than half of all transactions to be carried out on a mobile device by 2020.

"Our investment in the Mobile Money Network will support our aim to deliver a wide range of secure and reliable mobile payment services that help our members tap into the potential of m-commerce," added My Ayliffe.

M-commerce has been mooted as a future growth area by a number of analysts and retailers, with the most recent IMRG Capgemini Quarter Benchmarking Index showing that the total percentage of goods ordered online by mobile reached a record high of 5.3 per cent in Q4 2011.

Author:  Gillian Walters