Mobile payment Archives - IPG Media Lab

Major US Banks To Launch A Venmo Competitor For P2P Payments

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Lab Team

What Happened
Zelle, a digital payment network backed by more than 30 US banks, is ready to launch after six years in development. Major banks, including Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo, are beginning to roll out the first stage of Zelle, which comes as a new function integrated into the banks’ owned apps. This will let customers send and receive payments for free, regardless of bank affiliation, while also allowing for instant withdrawals. A standalone app is in the works and is set to launch later this year to take on the likes of Venmo and Square Cash.

What Brands Need To Do
This news came just a week after Apple announced last week at WWDC that in the upcoming iOS 11, Apple Pay will be integrated into Messages to enable P2P payments via texting. Now with the impending roll out of Zelle, mobile payment is set to gain a significant boost in the coming months thanks to the increased accessibility of P2P payments and its resulting network effect. Financial service brands need to prepare for this by making their services compatible with the various P2P systems so as to better serve customers. Retail and ecommerce brands should consider integrating Apple Pay support for their mobile website to remove friction for online shoppers.

Source: The Verge

PayPal Joins Forces With Android Pay To Expand Retail Reach

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Lab Team

What Happened
On Tuesday, PayPal announced that it is teaming up with Google’s mobile payments platform Android Pay to expand its footprint both within mobile applications as well as at brick-and-mortar retailers. The partnership will allow PayPal users in the U.S. to activate their PayPal accounts in Android Pay and use it online, in apps, and in physical stores. This means Android users will soon be able to pay via PayPal for things like Uber as well as at retail partners such as Walgreens, Dunkin Donuts, and Subway.

What Brands Need To Do
As one of the most popular digital wallet services in the world, PayPal boasts nearly 200 million active customer accounts and about 15 million active merchant accounts. This partnership should further help expand the mobile usage of PayPal via Android Pay, as it offers a workaround to users who are hesitant to link up their credit or debit cards to mobile payments due to privacy or security concerns. For brands, the continued expansion of mobile payment will continue to simply the ecommerce and in-store check-out experience while also providing brands, particularly retailers, with a chance to integrate their loyalty programs into the process.

Source: Engadget

Starbucks Launches An iMessage App That Let You Text Friends Gift Cards

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Lab Team

What Happened
Starbucks is bringing gifting into your text messages with an updated iOS app released on Tuesday. The Seattle-based global coffee chain added a new “Starbucks Gifts” iMessage applet to its mobile app, allowing users send digital gift cards through Apple’s iMessage and pay for them using Apple Pay. Users can choose from a selection of images that fits the occasions and customize the gifted value for the gift card before completing the purchase with Apple Pay. Then the customized gift card is ready to be sent via iMessage.

In addition, the updated Starbucks app come with a few other improvements, such as enhanced push notifications, a revamped mobile order and pay user experience, and a store locator with new filtering options.

What Brands Need To Do
Previously, early-adopting brands like Dunkin’ Donuts and Coach have also developed iMessage app to expand the reach of their mobile apps into texting, but none has bothered to integrate with Apple Pay for a smooth, frictionless user experience like Starbucks is doing now. The payment integration makes it easy and convenient for users to generate gift cards, while he integration with iMessage. creates a more intimate user experience that lends a personal touch to the gifting process. Together, they make for a great branded gifting experience that helps recruit more customers to use its mobile app and elevates Starbucks’ brand equity, Therefore, brands looking to stay connected with mobile customers should take a cue and develop similar initiatives to explore messaging and conversational environments.

Source: 9to5 Mac

SXSW 2017: Visa Puts An NFC Payment Chip On A Pair Of Sunglasses

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Lab Team

What Happened
Visa has been experimenting with mobile and IoT payments for a while now, previously launching a digital commerce app and collaborating with Brita to built payment into water filters. Today at SXSW, the credit card company showcased its latest creation – a pair of sunglasses with an NFC chip built into the frame. Once linked with a Visa user profile, it can replace plastic cards to complete purchases at NFC-equipped terminals. Visa says it is scouting for a fashion eyewear brand to collaborate on turning this prototype into a viable product.

What Brands Need To Do
While it is highly debatable whether it is a good idea to integrate a credit card chip with easily misplaced items like sunglasses, this prototype points to a future where ordinary devices and objects can become connected via 5G, Bluetooth, or other proximity technologies, and thus able to perform tasks and complete transactions. In fact, Visa has already inked a partnership with IBM to plug Watson’s machine learning smarts into its payment solutions for connected devices.

Imagine a future when your connected home appliances can search for local handyman services when it detects a repairing need, or when your smart fridge automatically order milk from local grocery stores when you’re running low. That future of IoT-powered ecommerce may seem far from us now, but it is an inevitable future that all brands need to start strategizing for. By expanding their messaging to connected devices, brands can establish a consistent presence guiding consumer throughout their customer journey.

Source: Engadget

Jaguar Partners With Shell To Launch In-Car Payment App At U.K. Gas Stations

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Lab Team

What Happened
Soon, Jaguar drivers in the U.K. will be able to pay for their gas refills without leaving their cars. The British auto maker announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out a “world’s first” in-car payment system that enables drivers to fuel up their vehicles and pay via the integrated Shell app on the car’s touchscreen dashboard.

Based on Shell’s existing “Fill Up & Go” payment app, the new integrated payment app uses location data to determine which gas station you are at and allows for one-tap authorization through a saved payment method. Jaguar will roll out the app via an over-the-air software update to select Jaguar models starting this week.

What Brands Need To Do
This partnership serves as one recent example of auto brands working to enhance driving experiences with connected services. As connected car technologies continue to mature, auto brands will need to seek out suitable technology and brand partners to build out the services enabled by in-car connectivity. For other brands, this represents new opportunities for them to reach customers behind the wheel and in the back seats by establishing an in-car touchpoint and integrating loyalty programs via similar partnerships.

Source: Engadget

Android Pay Now Supports More Websites With Visa & Mastercard Integration

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Android users can now use Android Pay to complete purchases on “hundreds of thousands” of websites thanks to partnerships that Google struck with Visa and Mastercard. Any website that currently accepts Visa Checkout or Masterpass will now also support Android Pay, offering users a seamless checkout experience on the mobile web.

What Brands Should Do
Similar to the way Apple rolled out Apple Pay to the mobile web earlier this year, this extension of Android Pay should greatly benefit brands that sell directly on their websites. A recent study shows that smartphones now account for nearly half of all traffic to ecommerce sites, yet they only make up about 10% of sales. One big reason for this discrepancy is the friction caused by the manual input of payment information, and supporting mobile payment can eliminate some friction in online shopping and reduce shopping cart abandonment. Therefore, brands should be proactive when it comes to adding support for mobile payment to their sites so as to provide a better shopper experience.

For more information on how brands can modernize their user experiences to better engage with mobile shoppers, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

Source: Engadget

Walgreens Integrates Loyalty Program Into Android Pay

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Walgreens has become the first retailer to fully integrate its loyalty program into Android Pay with NFC support, aiming to speed up the check-out process for Android users. Once the loyalty card is added to Android Pay, Walgreens shoppers only need to tap their phone once at check-out to get their Balance Rewards points, eliminating the need to manually scan their membership card.

In terms of support for loyalty programs, Android Pay is just catching up to Apple Pay, which has supported loyalty card integration since the launch of iOS 9 in late 2015. In fact, Walgreens was also the first U.S. retailer to integrate its loyalty program with Apple Pay. Earlier this summer Walgreens started testing digital coupon integration in Apple Pay to help customers save.

What Brands Need To Do
As it expands loyalty card support to Android Pay, Walgreens is making its check-out experience more convenient for more shoppers. Other retailers need to take a cue and start making their loyalty programs more accessible across platforms.

To learn more about how brands can leverage digital tools to fully engage customers across sales channels, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

Source: 9to5 Google

Walmart Rolls Out Its Mobile Payment Solution Nationwide

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Want to use Apple Pay at your local Walmart? Well, you may have to wait a lot longer. Today the national retail giant started rolling out its own mobile payment solution Walmart Pay to over 4,600 stores across the U.S. Walmart first started testing the payment app in select markets last December, allowing customers to pay via their iOS and Android devices with almost all major credit cards, debit cards, and Walmart gift cards. The big-box retailer says it already counts 24 million registered users for its mobile app. The nationwide roll-out came right after Walmart launched its free two-day shipping program last week. Together, these two initiatives point to Walmart’s plan of employing mobile payment and expedited delivery to improve the shopping experience it provides so as to better compete with rivals.

What Retailers Need To Do
By officially launching its own mobile payment system, Walmart is once again saying “no” to third-party mobile payment solutions and taking full control of its check-out experience. Time will tell if customers will forgo the native payment solutions on their phones and opt for Walmart Pay. In the meantime, Walmart will get to enjoy the perks of owning its digital payment solution, which helps it to simplify the process of tying purchase data to individual customer profiles for retargeting purposes. As more and more customers incorporate mobile devices into their shopping trips, it would greatly benefit brick-and-mortar retailers to devise a digital payment strategy and incorporate existing reward and loyalty programs into point of sale systems.

For more on what retailers can do to reach today’s connected shoppers across sales channels, please check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

Source: ZDNet

Vending Machines See Revenue Increase After Highlighting Apple Pay Support

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Vending machines advertising their support for Apple Pay are seeing a significant lift in revenues, according to USA Technologies, a company that specializes in cashless vending machine technology. The company reports that it has seen an impressive 89% increase in revenue through contactless purchases at the vending machines running on its ePort Interactive platform, which highlights its Apple Pay support at the point of sale. The company says it has rolled out support for mobile payment to more than 300,000 NFC-equipped machines nationwide.

What Brands Need To Do
Despite making some progress in broadening its availability and gaining traction among early-adopting users, mobile payments have yet to become mainstream. While a recent eMarketer survey found that 24% of U.S. smartphone users used mobile payments in 2015, up from just 12% in 2011, market research firm Aite Group estimated that Apple Pay only accounted for 1% of all US retail transactions as of last October.

Nevertheless, the revenue bump that USA Technologies gets through advertising its Apple Pay availability proves that there is an opportunity to increase sales by supporting mobile payments. Therefore, brands should not only incorporate mobile payments into their points of sale to facilitate a convenient check-out experience, but also do a better job of informing their customers of their support for mobile payments. This is also applicable for online retailers, as Apple Pay support is coming to web pages.

Source: NFCWorld

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