Electronic Payments and Ecommerce Conversions

Alternative Payments and Ecommerce Conversions

There’s no shortage of alternative payment choices: eBay’s PayPal, Google’s Wallet, Visa V.me, and MasterCard MasterPass, to name a few.  There is also a proliferation of alternate contenders, as mobile shopping threatens to disrupt traditional methods of payments.

Alternative payment companies each claim that their payment method increases conversions. My company, SeeWhy, performed an independent analysis and confirmed these claims.

In this study data shows significant increases in conversion compared with credit cards, peaking at a 101 percent increase on smartphones.

But this is not the whole story. While these increases are impressive, they only applied to around 15 percent of traffic, so the impact on your site’s overall conversion rate will be much less. Depending on the characteristics of your site you will probably see somewhere in the region of 5 to 10 percent improvement in your site’s overall conversion rate, which is still significant enough not to be ignored. As mobile commerce grows, then alternative payments will become ever more important.

However, before embarking on an alternative payment implementation, there are three important considerations you need to take into account.

1. How Many Alternative Payment Methods?

Choosing only one alternative payment method might be tough, so why not implement several, and cover the market more thoroughly? This may be a valid approach, but think carefully before choosing this option.

For example, RunningShoes.com has implemented PayPal, Google Wallet, and MasterPass as alternative payment options.

The problem is that offering payment choices can create four different competing calls-to-action, as you can see. Whenever consumers are faced with too much choice, indecision tends to follow.

This is also problematic when you consider the whole page. There are lots of visual distractions to the primary call to action, which in this case is the red Secure Checkout button.

Before embarking on implementing multiple calls-to-action, consider how you are going to solve this issue. One route you could consider is to suppress the alternate payment methods for returning customers if the customer always pays by credit card, for example. Or if the customer always purchases by PayPal, show the PayPal button most prominently, and hide the others under a Show alternate methods of payment  link.

2. How to Implement

Not all sites will see significant increases in conversion when implementing alternate payment methods. The main reason for this is that implementations can be done badly. One of the primary benefits of these payment methods is that they enable visitors to bypass the billing, shipping, and card entry steps on an ecommerce site. This is especially important for mobile sites, where entering these details using fingers and small screens defeats all but the most determined.

However, many sites implement these payment methods as an alternative only to entering the credit card number. You can see this here on Barnes and Noble ‘s site, where you are forced to enter shipping and billing information before being presented with the PayPal button. This may be a simpler implementation to do than providing an alternate checkout path, but it is frankly a waste of time, and surprisingly prevalent in PayPal implementations.

The correct method is to implement the alternative payment method as a button at the start of the checkout process, probably on the cart summary page. You can see a good example here of this at PacSun.com, an apparel site, but note the competing calls-to-action problem here as well.

PacSun deals with this slightly differently on mobile devices by not offering V.me. as a payment alternative. This avoids having a four choice vertical list of competing calls-to-action.

Alternative payments can undoubtedly result in higher conversions. However, to be effective they need to be implemented correctly to provide an alternative checkout flow, not simply a payment alternative to credit cards. This takes more effort to implement, but it is worth it. Implementing one payment method properly is a better route than superficially implementing multiple payment methods. This is especially true for mobile sales where the goal is to eliminate data entry as much as possible and alternate payments can do this very effectively. As mobile commerce becomes more important, so will alternative payments, for all merchants.

3. Which Payment Method?

Since there are multiple choices, the obvious route is to adopt PayPal. PayPal claims over 30 million U.S. mobile customers, and over a 100 million active accounts…which is a larger base than any of its competitors. SeeWhy found that 34 percent of U.S. consumers shopping online had PayPal accounts as of July 2013.

However, PayPal also carries some baggage. Having grown up as a payment method of choice for eBay, its reputation is not always considered positive. Some consumers are wary about PayPal, having had negative experiences in the past, probably with smaller merchants on eBay. In fact, according to SeeWhy’s analysis, two thirds of PayPal account holders state that their preferred payment method is a credit card.

Merchants selling luxury items might want to consider alternatives before implementing PayPal because of its reputation issues. Google Wallet is an alternative that is growing fast in part because of the growth of Android smartphones where a Google Wallet account is required to use the Play store, the Android equivalent of the app store. Google Wallet can also be linked to Google+ social sign on, so if you are considering implementing social sign on as well this might be a route to consider.

Both Visa’s V.me and MasterCard’s MasterPass both hold significant potential but the companies are only just beginning to roll out their service. It’s also worth noting that both Visa and MasterCard are rolling out their services through the acquiring banks. This will cause a proliferation of payment choices, leading to complexity and confusion for the shopper. You can see this already with MasterPass where having selected the Buy with MasterPass option, you are then presented with an array of different MasterPass wallets to choose from. Currently there are only six options, but what happens when there are hundreds?

Posted in e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Tagged with: billing, calls-to-action, card entry, checkout, conversion, credit cards, e-commerce, ebay, ecommerce, electronic, google, MasterCard, masterpass, mobile commerce, mobile sales, mobile shopping, payments, PayPal, process, screens, shipping, smartphone, visa, wallet

Merchant Cash Advance Accounts Coming Of Age

Big players are entering the merchant cash advance business and the industry’s smaller players are maturing. Meanwhile, the market is growing with the help of automated clearinghouse transactions.

The industry has caught the attention of high rollers who are transforming merchant cash advance into a mainstream option for funding small to midsize businesses.

In the past two years, venture capitalists and hedge funds have invested tens of millions of dollars in long-standing merchant cash advance firms and startups alike.

Meanwhile, big players such as PayPal and the card brands have launched their own programs to provide working capital to merchants.

The business has changed so much in the five years, it’s almost not the same business anymore, says a hybrid ISO and merchant cash advance company based in New York.

CEO of Capital Stack LLC, a merchant cash advance company in New York, has been monitoring the industry’s growth on his DailyFunder blog. He estimates that a year ago, there were about 50 merchant cash advance funders and about $1.5 billion in funding. This year, that number is north of 120, and the funding volume has doubled to $3 billion.

Counting mainstream funders such as Amazon and PayPal, which offer products that follow the cash advance model, the numbers are closer to $5 billion.

Until now, ISOs were using cash advances as an acquiring tool for credit card accounts. An estimate that of the 20 million to 25 million businesses in the U.S., about 5 million accept credit cards. When ACH opened up the remainder of those businesses for loans, the funding volume went off the charts. Now it’s going to grow 50-fold in a 10-year period, just because there are so many more businesses that are approvable.

The popularity of cash advance is good news for ISOs, who might have an easier time pitching the product to merchants because they already know about it and know to ask for it.

A number of factors have coincided to make merchant cash advances more attractive.

Previously, cash advances were associated with luring merchants into a high-rate source of cash. Funders could charge any rates they wanted because the industry was so unregulated. As the industry has matured, the more disciplined companies have survived, while the others have fallen by the wayside, and with the recession causing fewer banks to offer traditional loans, the market is wide open for alternative funders of all shapes and sizes to enter the fray.

The industry has also outgrown the one-size-fits-all pricing that once defined it. Before, all lenders set high prices. Now, companies rely on risk-based pricing, which means better clients get better deals, and ISOs can offer more competitive pricing. That changed the dynamics of the industry.

But the real change in merchant cash advance, members of the industry say, has been the widespread use of automated clearinghouse payment transfers. It used to be that merchant cash advance was available only to companies that accepted credit cards. Now with more businesses accepting payments online via ACH, there is another mechanism for collecting from merchants.

It took some time for people to accept people going into their bank account and debiting their account. Five or six years ago, no one would have allowed someone to do something like that.

Today, everybody’s fundable, as long as you have a bank account. Gone are the days when ISOs had to walk away from potentially big deals because the merchant didn’t accept credit cards, or didn’t have enough processing volume. ISOs and merchants now have more flexibility to walk into just about any business and offer financing. That’s why it’s mainstream.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Financial Services, Merchant Cash Advance Tagged with: accept credit cards, accounts, ach, acquiring, Amazon, approvable, automated, clearinghouse, credit-card, funders, funding, high rate, high rollers, ISO, merchant cash advance, PayPal, traditional loans, transactions, unregulated, venture capitalist, working capital

How to Accept Credit Card Payments Online

You will be happy to learn that these days there is less hassle when setting up credit card payments online. In the past, companies were required to open a merchant account through a bank in order to be able to accept credit cards. Today, several services enable you to accept credit cards online without opening your own merchant account.

With more than 50 million users worldwide, Paypal is probably the most widely used such service. The company’s Payflow service is a turn-key solution with several added advantages such as recurring billing and fraud protection.

If you still want to take actual credit card payments online, a merchant account service is your best option. To open an Internet merchant account, you must fill in a merchant application and provide support documents. First, you must supply proof that you established a checking account for your Internet business.

If you have sole proprietorship or a micro business, you can open either a personal checking account or business checking account. If you opt for a personal checking account, the account must be in the name of the sole proprietor. If your internet business is a corporation, you must set up a corporate checking account.

This account will be used to deposit sales generated through your internet merchant account, but also to withdraw fees such as online payment gateway fees.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: accept, application, checking account, companies, credit-card, deposit, fraud protection, internet business, merchant account, merchant account service, micro business, online, payment gateway fees, payments, PayPal, recurring billing, sales, support, turn-key, worldwide

Reasons Mobile Payments Still Haven’t Caught On

All Alerts, All The Time

Will mobile payment apps hail the arrival of mobile interruptions that never let up? Consumers worry that adopting a mobile wallet app will open them up to a barrage of alerts, sounding the alarm every time the local supermarket has toilet paper for half-off. The services can even track your purchases, opening the floodgates for targeted ads. Frequent alerts could be a deal breaker.

Battery Woes

As smartphones gets bigger, badder and more powerful, battery technology is struggling to keep up. That’s a problem if you want to make a call — but it could be an emergency if your smartphone is your wallet, too. Users are already scrambling to find a charging outlet by lunchtime. Soon, failure to recharge might mean you lack the funds to buy lunch in the first place. Meanwhile, credit cards never need a battery boost, and paper money has worked faithfully since well before the invention of the light bulb.

Do I Have The Right Phone?

You’re ready to make a mobile payment — but is your smartphone? Only the most popular new Android and Windows smartphones have NFC support to enable tap-to-pay services, and Apple has decided to forgo NFC altogether with its iPhone handsets. Users of budget smartphones are likewise out of luck. And though smartphones may seem ubiquitous, only a little more than half of U.S. adults have one.

Is It Secure?

Mobile payments open up a whole new frontier for fraudsters — or so cautious consumers worry. In fact, tap-to-pay technology is as secure as swiping a plastic bank card, and cloud services like PayPal Here support two-factor authentication for extra reassurance. Still, consumers worry their personal information could be intercepted during a transaction, and not everyone is convinced that Google can provide the same level of protection as their bank. But hope remains. The survey found about half of the most security-conscious respondents were much more likely to be interested in mobile payment options if they could be promised 100 percent fraud protection.

Limits, Limits, Limits

Even with a glut of mobile payment options, most lack at least one critical feature. Google’s Wallet app lets you stow your payment information in your phone to buy items in brick-and-mortar shops, but its touch-to-pay functionality is limited to Android devices on Sprint and other smaller carriers. Last year, Apple introduced Passbook, a mobile wallet app that lets users store gift card credits, loyalty card information and more on their iPhones — but only a handful of participating businesses support the app. The mobile payment model isn’t just fragmented — it’s fundamentally limited by countless companies competing for an ever-smaller piece of the pie.

Mobile What?

A recent CMB Consumer Pulse survey showed about half of smartphone users have never even heard of mobile payments. And of the 50 percent who have, a meager 8 percent said they’re familiar with the technology. Banks, credit card companies and others hoping to cash in on consumer interest will have to invest in better messaging first.

What Are The Perks?

Credit cards come with alluring perks — signing bonuses, cash back and travel accommodations, to name a few. But mobile payment systems have serious benefits. They can utilize GPS technology to direct you to deals, keep tabs on your bank account to alert you when you’re near your spending limit, and store unlimited receipts straight to the cloud. Businesses profit from mobile wallets, too, which often charge lower fees than credit card companies and encourage return trips by storing digital copies of loyalty cards.

What’s In It For Me?

To convince consumers to abandon trusted payment options for something new, companies must strike an undeniable value proposition. In the late ‘90s, electronic retail giants like Amazon compelled consumers to enter their 16-digit credit card numbers into online portals, opening up a whole new world of convenience with online shopping. But today’s consumers aren’t convinced that mobile wallets are any more convenient than their physical counterparts. Credit and debit cards already offer a speedy, reliable way to pay on the go. And since they’re accepted virtually everywhere, customers can fork over a card without worry or confusion. Convincing people that new technology is worth their time and effort might ultimately be the toughest nut to crack for mobile payment purveyors.

Where’s The Support?

Even the most enthusiastic adopters are out of luck if their favorite shops lack the infrastructure to process mobile payments. Big-box retailers sprang up in the infancy of computer technology, so joining the mobile payment revolution could necessitate updates to check out hardware and software. Mobile payments could be a boon to businesses, but installing the upgrades could be expensive and disruptive — especially when consumer interest remains low.

Which to Pick?

Even curious consumers are confounded by the array of mobile payment options available. Google, Visa, MasterCard and even mobile carriers like Sprint and Verizon are among the heavy hitters on the mobile payment scene, each offering a discrete service with different apps — and different rules. Some rely on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that lets users simply tap their smartphone against a special reader to pay, while others offer up scannable QR codes. Mobile payments may never take off until one company rises above the rest with a single killer service.

Forget about cash or credit. In 2013, consumers can simply swipe or scan their smartphones at the checkout to pay. A huge array of mobile payment services have sprung up in recent years, urging customers to abandon their plastic credit cards for the “mobile wallet” revolution, but so far, adoption of mobile payment technology has been dismal.

Posted in e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Smartphone Tagged with: alerts, Android, Apple, bank card, battery, cautious, consumers, crack, credit cards, deal, digital, fraud, gift card credits, google, GPS, information, Iphone, lower fees, loyalty cards, mobile, nfc, online, options, paper money, Passbook, payment, PayPal, personal, phone, plastic, portals, powerful, protection, purchases, secure, Smartphones, sprint, storing, support, Swiping, Tap to Pay, touch-to-pay, track, two-factor authentication, wallet, windows

Difference Between an Aggregated Merchant Account and a Dedicated Merchant Account

 

First what is a Merchant Account? It is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments by payment cards, typically debit or credit cards. A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for the settlement of payment card transactions. In some cases a payment processor, independent sales organization (ISO), or member service provider (MSP) is also a party to the merchant agreement. Whether a merchant enters into a merchant agreement directly with an acquiring bank or through an aggregator such as PayPal, the agreement contractually binds the merchant to obey the operating regulations established by the card associations.

Merchant Account comes in 2 Basic Types – Aggregated Accounts and Dedicated Accounts.

Aggregated Merchant Account – such as those provide by PayPal that use a single merchant account to provide credit card processing for an entire portfolio of companies.

Dedicated Merchant Account – are provisioned specifically for your business.

Each has its Advantages and Disadvantages.

4 Key Points to Consider when deciding which type is the most advantageous for your small business.

1. Creditworthiness: To obtain a dedicated credit card processing merchant account your business will need to go through comprehensive underwriting. If you’re in a difficult to underwrite industry or if your business is very new and if it has a less than stellar credit history then an aggregated merchant account is the best choice. You still need to provide information about your business, underwriting for aggregated accounts is typically far less rigorous than for dedicated merchant accounts.

2. Funds Control: With an aggregated merchant account, transaction proceeds go to the service provider and are then deposited to your bank account at the provider’s discretion. There are no industry standards or rules that govern how an aggregated merchant account provider handles or disburses your money. The provider makes the rules, and can change them at will, so if you choose an aggregated merchant pay very close attention to the contract terms and any changes made to them. With a dedicated merchant account, transaction proceeds, less processing fees, are deposited directly into your business account. While the merchant account provider can correct errors, react to potential fraud and debit your account for customer “chargeback” claims. This must all be done based on industry-standard credit card processing rules.

3. Neighborhood: With an aggregated account, you’ll have no idea about the other companies processing transactions. If a good number of them engage in fraudulent activity, it is possible that the service provider’s processing account will be terminated and even honorable businesses like yours will lose credit card processing ability. If you do go with an aggregated account, it is very important to make sure that your provider is large enough to absorb fraud generated by a few bad apples.

If you’re using a small provider, try to get a list of the other business using the service and check them out to see if you want to live in the same neighborhood. With a dedicated merchant account the only company processing credit card transactions through it will be yours. You are in full control of keeping the account in good standing.

4. Speed: Getting a dedicated merchant account can take time. While there are some providers automating the process and providing same-day decisions. A typical application will take 48 hours to approve and additional time to integrate into a POS or electronic payment processing environment. Signing up for a credit card processing under an aggregated account service provider can usually be done in minutes, and it often comes with an online system that can have you actively processing payment within the hour.

Offering your customers the option to pay with a credit card is a great way to enhance revenue for your small business. Customers want the points associated with rewards cards, and they want to manage their own cash flow by floating balances or financing their purchases. Allowing them to use credit cards accomplishes both. So, give the customers what they want. If you don’t accept credit cards yet, now is a great time to start. Having made that decision, the next step is to obtain a merchant account for credit card processing.

The actual credit card processing rates you’ll be charged are a critically important factor as well. But as with most things, you get what you pay for. So don’t choose a low rate without also considering how the provider you  select will impact your overall business.

For Merchant Account Services Please call National Transaction at 888-996-2273 or visit our  website www.nationaltransaction.com to know more about our services.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Merchant Services Account Tagged with: account, accounts, acquiring, aggregator, card, cards, chargeback, credit, debit, electronic, environment, fees, financing, fraud, ISO, merchant, msp, payment, PayPal, POS, Processing, provider, transaction, underwriting

QR Code (Quick Response Code) for PayPal Shoppers

PayPal payments giant may finally have found a way to get people to use (Quick Response Code) QR Code.

The company is introducing Payment Code today, a new technology intended to enable shoppers to make purchases by scanning a QR code on their mobile phone, or receive a short four-digit code on their phone, to complete a purchase. “Payment code is easy to use and understand and utilizes a ubiquitous technology that merchants have and are familiar with. If the merchant has a barcode or QR code scanner, the merchant scans to complete the transaction. If the merchant doesn’t, then a four-digit code pops up on the shopper’s phone that can be entered into the PIN pad at checkout.

According to the PayPal blog, Payment Code is an extension of the company’s offerings aimed at enhancing in-store payments. Their approach isn’t to push technology for technology’s sake, but to truly make the paying experience better for consumers and to give merchants more opportunity to innovate without a costly investment. When shoppers are ready to pay, they open the PayPal app (or the specific merchant’s app) and check in at that location, which will result in the app prompting them with a QR code, or a four-digit short code, to authenticate their purchase.

Posted in Financial Services, Merchant Account Services News Articles, Mobile Payments Tagged with: app, authenticate, check in, code, costly, in-store payments, merchant, mobile, payment, PayPal, phone, purchase, QR, QR code, quick response, Scanning, shoppers, technology

Amazon launches payments for other e-commerce sites

Amazon has launched a service that enables its customers to pay on other e-commerce sites via their Amazon account data. Called ‘Login and Pay with Amazon,’ the service sells payment processing for participating retailers.

Amazon has more than 215 million active customer accounts. The Amazon payment service works on personal computers, smartphones and tablets. Site developers employ Amazon widgets and APIs, or application programming interfaces.

Login and Pay with Amazon enables companies to make millions of customers by inviting online shoppers with Amazon credentials to access their account information safely and securely with a single login. Login and Pay with Amazon helps replace guest checkouts with recognized customers, leading to improved services which could include: managing and tracking orders, purchase history detail, special discounts, instant access to shipping addresses and payment methods.

Amazon previously called its payment service Checkout by Amazon, but rebranded it Amazon Payments. In May, Internet Retailer wrote about Autoplicity.com’s experiences adding the Amazon payment tool.

Amazon says it will not share customers’ credit card information gained via the payment tool, and that it will cover purchases made through the service in the same way purchases are covered from Amazon.com.

“This [newly launched] service is more of a repackaging of Checkout by Amazon than as something new,” says a payments industry analyst. “Amazon has been a challenger to PayPal for some time in the Internet payments arena, but PayPal has the dominant market share. One key reason is that PayPal is not viewed as a direct competitor to the merchants it serves while Amazon often is.”

PayPal, part of eBay, is the clear leader in so-called alternative payments, used by 84% of consumers who pay online with alternatives to payment cards, according to a report earlier this year from Javelin Strategy & Research. The report, based on a 2012 survey, also showed that 42% of consumers pay with credit cards when making online retail and travel purchases, up from 40% in the 2011 survey, and 29% pay with debit cards, down from 30%.

The new Amazon service is a “great deal” more than a warmed-over Checkout.

He points out that the number of Amazon’s active accounts is much more than the active users of all eBay’s payment services. Including consumers with PayPal or Bill Me Later accounts, that base totaled 132.4 million in the second quarter, up nearly 17% from 113.2 million a year earlier, according to eBay.  And Amazon’s customers trust the security of making payments through the e-retailer, and have grown accustomed to the convenience of doing so. Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer.

For e-retailers, it’s yet another payment method they might want to evaluate. “Amazon is a damn big brand. If you bring that many users along with [the payment service], then e-retailers will give it serious consideration. It will give PayPal some competition.

 

 

Posted in e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Smartphone Tagged with: Amazon, amazon.com, api, application programming interface, checkout, credit cards, customers, debit cards, e-commerce, e-retailer, ebay, internet retailer, online, orders, payment methods, payment processing, payment service, PayPal, purchase, shoppers, travel purchases

As Capital One drops support Isis’ future darkens

As Capital One drops support Isis’ future darkens

Capital One pulling its support points to the challenges that near-field-communications is having with scale as non-NFC mobile wallet initiatives take off, as Isis gears up for a broader launch.

Capital One was one of Isis’ three founding card issuers, and the company’s drop of support as the company prepares for a larger roll-out emphasizes the challenges in gaining scale and momentum for mobile payments. PayPal and Apple’s recently announced their own mobile payment options that also avoid NFC reflect the opportunity that marketers see in services beyond NFC.

“Capital One dropping its support for Isis is significant in what it telegraphs about the problems issuers will continue to face with the wallet provider.” “Issuers must pay each time a consumer loads their card onto the wallet.”

“The caveat is that whether or not a consumer uses the card, the issuer must pay to have it in the Isis Wallet. Card issuers are interested in encouraging card spend whereas Isis is purely interested in getting consumers to link their cards to the wallet. This conflict of interest will continue to be problematic.”

Losing support
Capital One pulling its support from Isis could indicate that the financial institution did not see a substantial amount of consumers using their mobile devices to pay during the pilot for repeat visits, which is key in driving consumer adoption ahead. The number of mobile payment options available for card issuers to partner with is clearly growing, meaning that Capital One might see a bigger opportunity elsewhere.

However, Capital One’s pull-out could be well-timed since Isis is signing new partners, and Isis has an opportunity to recover quickly. “Many financial institutions and merchant acquirers see PayPal and Apple as threats and the moves that these companies are making could cause financial institutions, payment networks and acquirers to accelerate their mobile payments efforts in response to the perceived threat.” Since Isis is looking to partner with the financial institutions, payment networks and acquirers, the moves made by Apple and PayPal could drive partners into Isis’ embrace.

 

Google expands mobile wallet

Yesterday Google made a significant upgrade to Google Wallet that continues to focus on NFC, but also adds additional payment options for consumers. The Google Wallet app has been updated to let consumers send money to friends and family in the U.S. via an email address. Consumers can either send money directly from their bank account or from Google Wallet balance. Additionally, the app is now available for all Android devices that run the 2.3 operating system and higher. Previously, Google Wallet was only available on select Android devices. Consumers can also store loyalty cards from retailers that can be redeemed by scanning a mobile device in-store. Similar to Apple’s Passbook, Google Wallet will now also alert consumers when they are nearby to a store where they have a loyalty program.

Google said that it plans to support the one of 29 different NFC-enabled devices with NFC, but the company’s focus on additional features points to NFC as un-scalable by itself. In fact, Yankee Group estimates that 18 percent of device owners have a mobile device that supports NFC.

Apple, PayPal news
The interest around NFC has also significantly decreased as both PayPal and Apple are rolling out their own mobile payment options. For example, PayPal recently introduced its PayPal Beacon device that lets consumers pay hands-free in exchange for downloading the company’s app. The technology uses Bluetooth to pick up when a consumer is in-store to trigger a payment.

Apple is also working its way around NFC with its iBeacon technology that is rolling out in iOS 7. The technology lets marketers use Bluetooth around stores that can then be used to push out offers and relevant deals.

Both Apple and PayPal’s announcements emphasize the slow adoption that NFC has had in the United States. Although the technology has taken off internationally, it has had a harder time picking up steam in the U.S. because of the low number of NFC-enabled devices.

Broader roll-out
After running pilot programs, Isis is gearing up for a broader roll-out nationally. To date, most of the activity around mobile wallets has focused around the payment section of mobile wallets, which do not have as strong of a value proposition as the coupon and offers side that Isis is forced to prove to merchants.

Additionally, the education behind getting consumers aware of how to use the technology is still clunky, as evidenced by a test at a participating location in Austin by a local mobile consultant.

“Anything in the digital wallet space is a high-risk/high-reward venture at the moment and there are few if any profits being made in this space.” “When that is the case, business continuation is more a question of resolve than a question of competition.” Having multiple players in the market increases the overall quantity of marketing efforts that will take place in the mobile payments arena, increasing the probability that at least one product will succeed.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication Tagged with: Apple, Capital One, google, ISIS, mobile, near field communications, nfc, Passbook, payment, PayPal, wallet, wallets

PayPal announces updated app, device for hands-free, in store payment.

PayPal announces updated app, device for hands-free, in store payment.

A busy few days at PayPal. Late last week, the global payments giant announced a major update to its app for Android and iOS.  The new features have a strong mobile payments bent. And now, the company has announced the planned roll-out of “Beacon,” which uses Bluetooth Low Energy Technology to let customers check into retail stores and pay by verbal consent.

Paypal’s President calls the solution PayPal’s “most significant contribution to date in reinventing  the in-store shopping experience.”

Beacon is a new add-on technology that merchants plug into an A/C outlet. When a PayPal customer walks into a participating store and agrees to check-in, Beacon triggers a quick vibration or sound to confirm a check-in; customer’s photo then appears on a point-of-sale screen. To pay, the customer simply gives a verbal confirmation. “No wallet and no card. Nothing to do. Not even touching your phone.

BLE was chosen to resolve some problems posed by traditional geo-location, including power consumption. It will look for any store running a PayPal compatible POS system, and will only transmit information to PayPal or to the merchant if the customer agrees to check in.

The solution aims to improve on the credit-card-swiping experience.  PayPal figured the only better way to pay would be to do nothing.

The company will be piloting  Beacon in the fourth quarter.

New App  

PayPal’s vastly redesigned app for creating a more seamless in-store shopping experience is getting a lot of kudos across the web.

A New tab called “Shop” the first thing that appears when the app is opened, it displays nearby stores or restaurants that accept PayPal payments.  Users can check in and open a tab, then select various payment methods from the check-in screen. Upon payment, the app generates a confirmation alert and sends an email receipt.

You’ve really got access to your entire wallet in the app.

The app also lets you order food ahead of your arrival bypassing the line.  The feature works through PayPal’s partnership with Eat24 . Dinners can pay at the table, and at some locations, order more drinks.

For the first time, the app includes a Bill Me Later tab that lets users apply to finance PayPal purchases, and it integrates coupons and offers.

The company wanted the new app to help solve problem, and that payment isn’t something they typically complain about. So they focused on other potentially problematic experiences in the retail environment, waiting in line, waiting to pay the bill at their table and keeping track of coupons.

Posted in Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Smartphone Tagged with: Android, app, Apple, card, credit-card-swiping, geo-location, iOS, payment, PayPal, POS, retail, system, wallet

To Ease In-App Purchase Pain Facebook Adds Autofill

Facebook this week began testing a new feature dubbed “Autofill with Facebook” that aims to simplify mobile purchases by filling in customers’ credit card information for them, thus eliminating the need to type it in each time. This “Autofill with Facebook gives people the option to use their payment information already stored on Facebook to populate the payment form when they make a purchase in a mobile app,” Facebook spokesperson told the E-Commerce Times. “The app then processes and completes the payment.”  The feature “is designed to make it easier and faster for people to make a purchase in a mobile app by simply pre-populating your payment information.”During the test period, which began Monday evening, the feature will show up only to Facebook users who have already provided credit card information to the social network — in other words, those who have made in-game purchases or bought gifts for friends.

Facebook has partnered with PayPal, Braintree and Stripe as financial partners on the service, which is initially available only on the e-commerce iOS apps JackThreads and Mosaic.

Ironing Out the Wrinkles Autofill with Facebook isn’t a move to compete with PayPal and credit card companies, but to complement payment services by adding a layer for convenience, much the way Facebook, Google and Amazon have created a single login that works across a network of websites.

“Facebook is not interested in being a payments company,” an analyst, told the E-Commerce Times. “Instead, it is aiming to be the entity that irons out bumps in the payment process — something it is well-positioned to do. “With Autofill, Facebook will act as the lubricant that makes the commerce experience more seamless, providing a number of benefits to all stakeholders.”

Partners in the deal ensure that Facebook will succeed in Autofill with Facebook, it doesn’t care about payments, it cares about reaping the benefits that come from making the payment experience better.”

‘The Potential to Be Lucrative’ There could be significant financial benefits as well. “This approach has the potential to be lucrative for Facebook in that it will help plug the mobile conversion gap,” McKee suggested. “If Facebook can prove to its partner merchants that an ad on its site led to a purchase, the validity of its platform can easily be proven. Ideally, this will help convince other companies to advertise with Facebook as well.”

Taking it a step farther, Facebook will also gain transaction data, which McKee believes has considerable value. “Facebook can leverage transaction data with what it already knows about us for precision ad targeting. This will increase the relevance and placement of ads on Facebook.”

The Security Factor While many mobile customers will appreciate the Autofill function, security issues still lurk in the back of every consumer’s mind. Yet while privacy concerns have been an ongoing issue for Facebook, it has a good track record where security is concerned. “Facebook has been relatively incident-free when it comes to security breaches.”  “However, this is more a problem of consumer perception. Will consumers feel comfortable storing their payment credentials with a social media platform?

“Facebook is already approaching ‘big brother’ status, and this takes it one step further.” “To succeed, Facebook must provide visibility into what it plans to do with transaction data.”

‘It’s a No-Brainer’ The convenience factor, meanwhile, could be a compelling one for consumers. “It’s no-brainer useful to mobile users…who wants to enter their credit card on a mobile phone more than once?” “It could be more secure than mobile payment alternatives.” If Facebook gets past its hurdles, it will also succeed in building strengths in areas where it has been lacking to date.

“Right now Facebook isn’t super strong at the conversion side of  e-commerce.” “Autofill will give them a lot of data about purchases, which might help them remedy that.”

‘Strategic Smarts and Ambition’ As for those benefits to Facebook, there are potentially many. One example,”Autofill admits them to the online payments world.”

“This is another example of the strategic smarts and ambition of Zuck.” “One gets the sense that he wants to be a major competitor for everything online.”

Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments Tagged with: Amazon, commerce, credit card, e-commerce, Facebook, google, media, mobile, mobile phone, network, payment, payment information, payment services, PayPal, platform, processes, secure, social, transaction