How to manage the growing complexity of mobile commerce at the point of sale.
The shopping experience is on the cusp of a major transformation. Major players in mobile, web, payments and retail are launching electronic wallets that consumers can use at physical stores for payments – turning the leather wallet obsolete in the process. Mobile wallets running on mobile phones equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology are being deployed around the world by global leaders in web and mobile. Tens of millions of phones are expected to reach consumer’s hands in the coming months ready for proximity mobile payments and promotions.
Other leading global players in alternative payment and mobile applications are capitalizing on the power of the cloud and introducing “cloud wallet” payment services with the same objective: delivering mobile commerce experiences to consumers where payments are just the start. Key to all mobile wallet initiatives are the value-added mobile couponing, marketing and loyalty that promise to engage the consumer, help drive traffic, and increase sales and consumer loyalty to participating merchants.
What hasn’t changed is that no matter what wallet, app or program consumers carry, they still need to interact with and authenticate themselves securely at a merchant point-of-sale system. And all new payment options and value-added services must integrate smoothly at the point of sale with existing card schemes, couponing and loyalty systems or merchants will reject it.
Enabling the acceptance side of mobile commerce is just as important as enabling the consumer side in a world of global mobile wallet payments.
