When you take a global snapshot of mobile and online payments, it’s fascinating to see the differences from developing countries like China and India compared with the US, EU and other so-called “developed” countries. While there are some advanced technologies developing in the US, the payments landscape lags way behind Asia, EU and even South America. We’ve got the latest news, new technologies and highlights from markets around the world to help you keep mobile and online payments in perspective.
Adobe prototype Las Vegas store is testing RFID chip-enabled shopping bags then allow payment by putting bags on a checkout counter. Apple Pay is rumored to make Apple’s TouchID fingerprint technology available for e-commerce mobile websites before end of 2016. Expedia and Overstock.com adopt Apple Pay while bricks-and-mortar mobile payments languish. Boston Retail Partners says customers expect cross-channel consistency and retails must adopt these strategies sooner.
Amazon filed a new patent application for technology where retailers could enable payments through a selfie. Meanwhile, MasterCard will launch payment by selfie service in Canada this summer after trials in the Netherlands. MasterCard will launch Android Pay to cardholders in the UK. In India, Flipkart unveiled its own digital wallet – ‘Flipkart Money‘. Internet Retailer reports lengthy forms are causing up to 39% shopping cart abandonment.
According to Strategy Analytics, over 100 million people will make an NFC mobile payment in 2016. TheFinancialBrand.com reports banking is ripe for digital transformation, especially with younger consumers. Entrepreneur profiles Paytm and the strategies that helped and why are more than 1.4 million digital wallet subscribers in India. ‘Privacy‘ launched its single-use virtual credit card for safer online shopping in the units.
In the Store of the Future, Your Shopping Bag Connects to the Internet
The Internet of Things is coming to shopping bags. Adobe, which has been pushing to succeed in the retail analytics market, is selling customers on a prototype “Store of the Future” that features RFID chip-enabled shopping bags that allow users to purchase items just by putting their bags on a checkout counter.
Today, Adobe opens a prototype store in Las Vegas that is intended to showcase numerous trends in retail that brick-and-mortar stores are borrowing from online retailers: analytics of in-store customers, real-time metrics on inventory, and RFID tags on clothing that allow items to be tracked throughout the store.
The company’s smart-store demonstration consisted of a mix of features already found in retail stores along with more forward-leaning products. Smart beacons that track customers through their mobile phones are increasingly common in retail, and boutiques like Rebecca Minkoff are pioneering stores filled with RFID tags. Via fastcompany.com
Apple Pay for Mobile Websites Coming Later This Year
Apple Pay is finally ready to move beyond apps. Apple has been telling potential partners that its payment service, which lets shoppers complete a purchase on mobile apps with their fingerprint rather than by entering credit card details, is expanding to websites later this year, multiple sources told Re/code.
The service will be available to shoppers using the Safari browser on models of iPhones and iPads that possess Apple’s TouchID fingerprint technology, these people said. Apple has also considered making the service available on Apple laptops and desktops, too, though it’s not clear if the company will launch that capability.
Sources say that Apple is telling potential partners that the Apple Pay expansion to mobile websites will be ready before this year’s holiday shopping season. An announcement could come at WWDC, Apple’s conference for software developers, which typically takes place in June, though sources cautioned that the timing of an announcement could change. Via recode.net
Report: Apple Pay moving to the mobile web, could give big boost to m-commerce
According to a report yesterday, fingerprint-enabled Apple Pay is coming to mobile websites. One popular angle on this news is that the move will potentially cut into PayPal’s leadership position; however, the more important potential impact is the acceleration of mobile commerce more broadly.
Re/code reported that Apple Pay for mobile sites will be available later this year, before holiday 2016:
“The service will be available to shoppers using the Safari browser on models of iPhones and iPads that possess Apple’s TouchID fingerprint technology, these people said. Apple has also considered making the service available on Apple laptops and desktops, too, though it’s not clear if the company will launch that capability.”
One of the big reasons that mobile commerce significantly lags mobile traffic is payment friction. According to GfK research, mobile devices account for only three percent of transactions in the US, though seven percent from younger mobile users. Via marketingland.com
Expedia, Overstock.com adopt Apple Pay while bricks-and-mortar mobile payments languish
Expedia and Overstock.com are the latest to adopt Apple Pay into their commerce applications, reflecting retailers’ enthusiasm for online payments even as many steer clear of in-store mobile opportunities.
Bricks-and-mortar retailers are proving slow to transition to EMV, a factor needed for in-store mobile payments, likely due to the lack of consumer interest as only 48 percent of customers have used the new cards to make a payment. But retailers are not shying away from online and mobile payments services in the digital commerce space, exemplified recently by Expedia and Overstock.com adopting Apple Pay.
“Reducing friction in the checkout flow for online sales is a high priority for retailers,” said Wilson Kerr, vice president of business development and sales at Unbound Commerce, Boston. “Apple has hundreds of millions of credit cards on file and consumers are used to transactions through their iTunes account.
“This makes Apple Pay a very attractive payment solution, as shipping and bill-to address information can be auto filled into a retail app checkout flow,” he said. Via mobilecommercedaily.com
Amazon eyes visual payments, builds out hubs
Amazon is all about making it easier to make and receive purchases, and now the retailer is looking into ways to make the checkout process easier. A new patent application shows how the retailer could enable payments through a selfie. Shoppers already have a one-click payment option on Amazon, but concerns over security and the desire to limit the number of clicks in the buying process are dovetailing—it may just be time for a new kind of visual verification.
Amazon has filed a patent to authenticate an account with a picture or video within an application. Now that effort could extend to using visual verification to make a payment, bypassing the need for a password. The technology could be used with a mobile device or computer and “can prompt the user to perform certain actions, motions or gestures, such as to smile, blink, or tilt his or her head,” according to PYMTS.com. Via fierceretail.com
Flipkart Launches its Own Digital Wallet, Flipkart Money
Amidst the sea of digital wallets comes another online wallet for your purchases. Taking a leap towards digital payment business, Flipkart has unveiled its own wallet, dubbed ‘Flipkart Money‘.
As goes with any digital wallet of a company, the costs associated with transactions, payment gateways and returns and refunds get reduced, making the P&L statement look better on paper. It also allows Flipkart to take over other similar services in the market and make a strong foothold in payments industry. According to Binny Bansal, Co-Founder – Flipkart, payments is one of the four pillars of Flipkart, apart from Logistics, e-commerce and advertising. Via trak.in
MasterCard to bring selfie payments to Canada in summer
MasterCard has unveiled plans to enable Canadian cardholders to pay for their online purchases by taking a selfie starting with the summer of 2016. The payment card company says it plans to roll out the facial technology in Canada, after successful pilot programs in the US and the Netherlands.
MasterCard says biometric payments — which use characteristics such as fingerprints, voice or facial features to identify users — are more convenient and secure than passwords.
During the pilot project, participants in the Netherlands were required to download an app to use the technology. The Dutch system was able to prove whether or not a user was in fact a real live person and not just a picture of them by requiring the person to blink while the photo was being taken. Via thepaypers.com
MasterCard to bring Android Pay to cardholders in the UK
Millions of MasterCard cardholders and Android device owners in the UK will soon have additional safe and secure ways to make mobile payments and purchases, as Google announced it will launch Android Pay in this market. HSBC, Lloyds, MBNA and M&S Bank will be the first banks to support Android Pay in the UK, following Android Pay’s successful launch in the United States in September 2015.
Android Pay enables MasterCard credit, debit, prepaid, commercial and small business cardholders to use their eligible Android smartphones for everyday purchases in-store and within Android apps.
Once a MasterCard cardholder downloads the app and sets up an account, making a payment with Android Pay at a store is simple, safe and secure. To pay, consumers unlock their device, hold it near a payment terminal at any location that accepts MasterCard contactless payments, and their payment will be complete. MasterCard built the foundation for secure digital transactions, so consumers can use their cards when, where and how they want. Via retailtimes.co.uk
E-Commerce Shoppers Abandon Carts at Payment Stage
E-commerce retailers are losing potential customers at one critical juncture. US online shoppers are abandoning their carts during the payment phase, according to Internet Retailer. And this trend is occurring on both desktop and mobile platforms.
So shoppers are reaching the end of the process but won’t finish checking out. And the reasons are rather eye-opening:
– 46.1% of cart abandonments occur at the payment stage
– 37.4% occur at checkout login
– 35.7% occur once the shoppers sees shipping costs
– 20.9% occur when the user needs to enter their billing address
– 20% occur when the user needs to enter their shipping or delivery address
Four of the top five reasons users are bailing out of the checkout process stem from the logistics of entering information through desktop or mobile. Only one reason, the shipping costs, actually had to do with price. This shows that e-commerce retailers are coming up short with regard to the checkout process. Lengthy or complicated checkout forms, such as entering shipping addresses or payment information, account for approximately 39% of US cart abandonment. Via businessinsider.com
Over 100 million people to make an NFC mobile payment in 2016
More than 100 million people around the world will use an NFC handset to make a purchase in 2016, a recent study unveils. According to a new report from Strategy Analytics, the value of transactions conducted via NFC handsets will grow from USD 30 billion in 2016 to USD 45 billion in 2017, USD 70 billion in 2018, USD 110 billion in 2019, USD 160 billion in 2020 and USD 240 billion in 2021.
Increasing competition between mobile wallets from device vendors Apple and Samsung, payment card issuers, and mobile operators, combined with a maturing contactless payment infrastructure across most regions, will finally catalyze in-store handset-based NFC purchases, the analysts say.
Furthermore, Strategy Analytics expects consumer readiness to adopt mobile payments to improve as providers of mobile wallets increasingly support coupons and loyalty cards. Via thepaypers.com
It’s Time for ‘Mobile-Only’ Design in Banking
What’s the biggest innovation that you recall in retail banking? The ATM? Mobile Banking? Taking pictures of checks for deposit? What if I told you Tinder and Uber were more significant innovations for the future of consumer banking than any of the above?
That’s right, these two apps are completely changing how customers behave on mobile screens and more so, putting them at the center of their own “egosystem” forever changing expectations and preferences in how they wish to interact with companies. In a mobile-first world, the concept of banking is ripe for digital transformation.
There’s a reason CapitalOne acquired renown UX design firm AdaptivePath. Did you know that 42 design firms have been acquired since 2004, with approximately 50% of the deals made within the last year? While few are rooted in the banking space, the bigger trend toward design and user experience is about to trend across every consumer-facing industry. I believe the future starts with experience architecture, rethinking customer experiences based on other consumer segments that are changing how people interact with things and people. Via thefinancialbrand.com
Unified commerce is Holy Grail most retailers are still seeking: report
While 85 percent of retailers consider unified commerce a top priority, most are not making enough of an effort in upgrading their infrastructure to achieve a fully seamless shopping experience.
According to a new report from Boston Retail Partners, retailers have attempted to reformat their outdated systems to accommodate cross-channel capabilities, leaving many with “faux omnichannel.” As the consumer comes to expect a uniform service across channels, retailers are at risk of losing clientele if they do not implement a more holistic system. “There are several factors that have made ‘faux’ omnichannel a reality,” said Ken Morris, principal at Boston Retail Partners. Via luxurydaily.com
Stepping Up the eCommerce Game: Paytm nails it with eWallets
It seems Digital Wallet is the next big thing in the Indian e-commerce industry. And Paytm is revolutionised the concept by bringing it to the masses. What Flipkart did to e-commerce industry, Paytm is doing for digital wallets. It becomes even more significant considering that Paytm is a digital wallet with an e-commerce platform.
Last year was a good year for Paytm. The combined efforts of the whole team – from marketing to technical- proved fruitful when they reached 3.5 million transactions per month, solely offline. The best part about this figure is that 70% of these transactions come from Tier II and Tier III cities. Just these offline transactions are worth $8.5 million, excluding mobile recharges. It estimates that transactions in the offline business will alone grow 10 times to 35 million by the year end.
They say numbers don’t lie and for Paytm this truth is nothing but music to ears. Paytm definitely has an edge over all other digital wallets and they are firmly holding on to their 1.4 million users. So what is it that Paytm is doing right? Let’s have a look at what strategies they have been using. Via entrepreneur.com
‘Privacy’ creates single-use virtual credit cards for safer online shopping
With nearly 70 percent of American’s shopping online at least once monthly, it’s safe to asay that our online Amazon binges are officially a “thing.” Unfortunately, another “thing” that’s quickly pervading the online shopping world is the fear and uncertainty that comes with entering your credit card number to pay for these purchases.
Privacy.com aims to ease consumer fears with its first consumer product, ‘Pay with Privacy’ — a solution that allows for the creation of “burner” digital Visa cards.
The card, in this case, actually isn’t a card at all. Instead, it’s a randomly generated credit card number from the Privacy.com website, a simple browser plugin (Firefox or Chrome), or on your iPhone. Once you use the digital card, it self-destructs and you’re no longer at risk for bad actors that could use it again for additional purchases. Via thenextweb.com
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