Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
“Don’t look at me, I’m just a kid — bill my parents!”
Ah, youth. How free and easy it all seems. Especially after the launch of a new payments system, BillMyParents.
The system geared to teens and tweens — who ideally have good relationships with their hopefully indulgent parents — allows parents to approve purchases coveted by their kids and foot the bill.
The idea of the youth payment system is to capture some of the $40 billion spent by kids who end up shopping at traditional retailers only because without a credit card, they have no way to pay for stuff online, says the company’s chief executive, Jim Collas. Collas is the former chief technology officer for PC maker Gateway.
Whereas consumers have a host of options in online payments systems, including eBay’s PayPal, Google Checkout and Checkout with Amazon, Collas says his system is the most convenient for parents and teens. Parents pay 50 cents per total transaction after they approve and pay for their kids’ shopping lists that are automatically sent to them via email or text, and merchants pay a percentage to BillMyParents. Currently, BillMyParents is powered by Amazon.com with Amazon’s shopping cart integrated into the website. Kids can access the entire inventory of the global online retailer.
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Sure some parents dont allow kids to EVER shop online, but this isnt for those people. Thats a small minority. Just going by the numbers, teens spend something like 120+ billion online currently every year.Bill my parents is actually not looking to break in new ground in sales, but capture sales already lost to retail stores. That is the whole point.Amazon alone estimates losses in the hundreds of millions to retailers just because it was inconvenient for a teen to order a item online. This way the parent sets it up once and they are done. Then they can approve/ disapprove each purchase, or if your kids are trustworthy, just look over the purchases they did make. We are not talking spoiled brats here, as the article may suggest.It has numerous applications as a debit card (its not a credit card)as well. Think outside the box. How about Money for tuition, books,food, travel etc. for college students. How about money for kids to buy school clothes and supplies. What about birthdays? Who doesnt buy there kids stuff for that? Or allowing you kids to buy their friends something for there birthdays? Did you ever think it might be nice for you kid to actually pick out a present for their parents? Dad can give little Sarah $20 on a card to buy mom a gift.Some kids get paid for chores, and parents have no idea where the money goes. Some Im sure buy undesirable things, but with a debit card, a parent can see everything.Parents have full control as far as not allowing/ not allowing certain stores, text to freeze accounts etc. If you really think this is a bad idea, you actually A) dont fully understand it…or B)wont use it.Because going by the OVERWHELMING response that the company is getting, this is going to be huge.There is a reason several major retailers like Amazon are extremely interested.Look at the numbers: http://socialwise.blogspot.com/2009/04/r evised-look-at-bmp-bill-my-parents.htmlJ ust remember same was said of cell phones and teens/tweens only 8-10 years ago. “My kid will never have a cell phone”.