Monetary, a payment processing company in Durango, plans to grow like Mercury, and its well-known founders lend credence to its lofty goals.
In June, Monetary’s investor, Jeff Katz, named Shelley Plomske as its CEO. The pair have a history in the industry. Katz was one of the founders of Mercury, a Durango credit card processing company that grew from a handful of employees to more than 600 when it was sold to Vantiv in 2014.
Plomske was the fourth employee at Mercury and went on to oversee all of the company’s technical services, such as customer service, database administration and software. She worked there for nine years.
Plomske and Katz started Monetary in October 2015 and built the business to begin processing payments in June. Its headquarters is in Denver; it has an office in Durango in the Tech Center. In addition to payment processing, the company provides tools for small- to medium-sized businesses to help with marketing, inventory management and payment processing services.
The company’s propriety software allows merchants to market products to service customers, schedule appointments online and use the white label Monetary mobile app to help them grow and compete with national brands.
“When you provide solutions for them, I expect a whole lot of growth,” Plomske said.
Her goal is for Monetary to serve 100,000 merchants in the next seven to 10 years and become one of the top 20 payment processors.
The company employs 22 people, split between offices in Durango and Denver, and many have experience helping a company grow, she said.
In June, the company started processing payments and collecting a small fee paid by merchants when customers pay with cards.
But before that, the company was developing software that merchants pay for on a monthly basis. As part of its marketing software development, Monetary bought loyal.me, a Denver-based company.
Monetary’s software integrates with point-of-sale systems and makes it possible for merchants to track sales on their own website, through Amazon and in their stores. Monetary can also track segments of customers and the preferences of individuals and can send them targeted discounts and promotions.
“The more data we get, the better for us and the more detailed and relevant our offers become to the consumers. Because if we know what they’re buying, when they’re buying, how they are buying, then we start to really help the merchant create relevant offers,” Plomske said.
For example, Monetary can send a coupon to the most loyal customers of a restaurant during its slowest time, she said.
Monetary offers similar options for service-based businesses such as salons and chiropractors by tracking when appointments are booked online and in person, and allowing merchants to offer a discount to fill open appointments.
When it comes to marketing services, businesses must encourage customers to download their app or register for a loyalty program company with a phone number or an email so that they can receive the specialized offers, but beyond that, the marketing campaigns are largely automated.
“We have a very ‘set and forget’ type of functionality ... We are sending out those offers; they don’t even have to think about it,” Plomske said.
The company can also manage gift cards, both plastic and electronic, for businesses, which can help save merchants money by eliminating the fees they pay on credit and debit card transactions and building brand recognition, she said.
Merchants can choose to mix and match Monetary’s marketing, inventory management or payment processing services based on what they need.
Monetary works with point-of-sale system developers, those who sell specialized sales software to businesses, to sell its products.
“When you help a point-of-sale system differentiate their product and they are selling for you, you don’t have to go door to door. We have got technology partners that are our sales force,” she said.
So far, the company is working with 10 point-of-sale development companies that are selling its products.
mshinn@ durangoherald.com
