January 3rd, 2023 by Admin

Merchant Customer ExchangeYet another payment solution on the horizon is the MCE initiative for smartphones and tablets. The new solution is being led by 7-eleven, BestBuy, CVS Pharmacy, Darden Restaurants, Lowes, Publix, Sears, Shell Oil, Sunoco, Target, Dunkin’ Donuts, Bed Bath & Beyond and WalMart. According to their website, “Development of the mobile application is underway, with an initial focus on a flexible solution that will offer merchants a customizable platform with the features and functionality needed to best meet consumers’ needs.” The company intends to make their application available on all major smartphone platforms.

This latest solution is a mobile wallet that has serious potential to change the way consumers fulfill their mobile payments. The mobile app links a customers smartphone directly to their bank account allowing merchants to accept non-cash payment without involving credit card processing fees.

Though this is a significant shift from other mobile digital wallet schemes, the biggest difference might be in Loyalty Card programs used to entice existing customers to stop and shop. The creative potential for these types of programs go well beyond gift card processing and extend to e-mail and social networking. Customers could receive special offers based on the word of mouth, social sharing they do for the large retailers.

This mobile payment solution is initially just for the big boys though. They are catering to their own needs currently and there is no future consideration for small to medium size business in their digital wallet. With how fast things change in the mobile payment industry, this too could change and usher in new currencies for universal digital wallet payments.

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February 9th, 2022 by Admin

John Stewart
January 17, 2022
https://www.digitaltransactions.net/trends-like-open-banking-and-bnpl-will-sustain-e-commerces-hot-streak-a-report-says/

Open banking, single-click checkout wallets, and the hot buy now, pay later trend will all help drive e-commerce volume worldwide in the coming five years, predicts Juniper Research in a report released Monday. This momentum is likely to push online sales long after the short-term impetus from the pandemic subsides, Juniper says.

E-commerce volume totaled $4.9 trillion globally in 2021, a figure the United Kingdom-based research firm forecasts will reach $7.5 trillion in 2026, when China will control a 37% share. Wider availability of multiple e-commerce channels, including mobile devices, will propel the overall growth worldwide, Juniper says. But along with the boom in e-commerce will come a corresponding growth in fraud via identity theft, account takeovers, and fraudulent chargebacks, the report warns. China, for example, will account for more than 40% of fraud losses worldwide in 2025, at more than $12 billion, Juniper forecasts.

Open banking is a trend by which fintechs can verify balances in consumers’ accounts and transfer funds to pay for online purchases. As standards bodies work to promulgate standards for this business, e-commerce payment providers “should … partner with specialists in … specific emerging payment areas to keep pace with changing merchant expectations around acceptance types,” the research firm says in its release, referring to digital wallets and crypto as well as open banking.


Open banking has taken on a higher profile in the global payments market with efforts by both of the global card networks to acquire firms that specialize in this area. Visa Inc. has acquired Tink AB, while Mastercard Inc. bought Aiia and Finicity Corp.

Physical goods will continue to dominate e-commerce spending, the report says, accounting for 82% of payment value by 2026. To tap into the trend, Juniper advises, payments providers should support buy now, pay later plans, which allow consumers to split purchases into four equal installments paid over a six-week period at no interest. BNPL is becoming more controversial, however, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has launched an investigation of the option and as reports emerge that consumers with multiple accounts are more likely to miss a payment.

While still a big trend, e-commerce sales in the U.S. market cooled significantly last year as the pandemic effect lost some of its force. Third-quarter sales in 2021 reached $214.6 billion, up 6.6% year-over-year, according to the Census Bureau, which tracks retail sales. That follows an 8.9% rise in the second quarter and three straight quarters with increases of 32% or more. Fourth-quarter 2021 results are not yet available.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Financial Services, Mail Order Telephone Order, Merchant Account Services News Articles, Merchant Services Account, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Point of Sale, Small Business Improvement, Smartphone, Uncategorized, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 10th, 2020 by Admin

There are few moments like now where American consumers are collectively open to the idea of new payment methods – especially contactless ones such as mobile wallets. This is good news for businesses since mobile wallets offer a safer payment alternative to credit cards and drastically reduce customer wait times at checkout.

Mobile wallets (such as Apple Pay and PayPal) use authentication, monitoring and data encryption to secure and transmit personal information, and the level of security associated with them has payment card issuers backing their use. This is certainly helping drive consumer adoption, as does convenience.

In fact, global mobile wallet transaction value is estimated to reach nearly $14 trillion by 20201 – and that is a pre-COVID-19 estimate. New estimates are higher and point to further rapid adoption given the current need for touch-free payment options. According to a recently published Visa Back to Business report,* 70 percent of consumers surveyed in June 2020 have used a new shopping or payment method for the first time this year.

A rapid shift has begun and the numbers tell the storySo what is holding back business adoption of mobile wallets? Until recently, it just wasn’t a priority for many small- and medium-size businesses to enable it or educate their employees on its use. The lack of preferential demand didn’t make it a pressing topic. But that is changing. Consider this:

  • According to Forbes,2 by 2026, digital natives will be 59 percent of the consumers in the U.S. market.
  • Of this, 45 percent will be specifically Millennials and Gen Z, representing the largest purchasing power.
  • As Gen Z move into becoming the largest generation cohort, their purchasing power will be $143 billion.

But it’s not just what lies ahead that SMBs should be focused on now.

According to Visa’s Back to Business report, shoppers are now putting COVID-19 safety measures at the top of their shopping lists and they will reward stores that do the same. In fact, if all other factors were equal (price, selection, location), nearly 63 percent of consumers surveyed would switch to a new store that installed contactless payment options, such as mobile wallets.3

What does this mean for you? Now is the time to connect with customers to make sure they are fully contactless capable and have the technology in place to accept many of the most popular mobile wallets.

1Payments Industry Intelligence, “The rise of digital and mobile wallet: Global usage statistics from 2018,” November 25, 2018.
2Forbes, January 2020
3Visa Back to Business report 2020

Posted in Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments, Uncategorized Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Risk
May 19th, 2016 by Elma Jane

Transaction laundering, the new face of payment fraud is increasing and getting popular in the world of e-commerce.

Studies revealed that there are as many as 6% to 10% of additional unauthorized e-commerce sites that banks may be processing without their consent or awareness. A digital version of money-laundering, engaging in illicit commerce while using legal means to get paid.

Transaction laundering is another form of money-laundering and it is illegal.
Detecting fraudsters are becoming a major challenge not only for banks but financial service organizations like payment service providers as well. There have been dozens of cases where legitimate-looking websites were caught selling illegal products.

Acquirers, banks, and other institutions focused on websites as the central of transaction laundering while the mobile era has opened up a new ground for scammers to operate in. They provide new opportunities for fraudsters to do their work by routing payments for illicit goods and services through their own legitimate front accounts.

Mobile wallet apps, NFC chips, and payment apps are some of the new ways payments are being collected. Not to mention opening up an on-line storefront using web tools, which anyone can do is very easy.

Micro-merchants expansion of doing business on-line and the greater reach they have now to mobile technology, business opportunities for scammers doing transaction laundering have never been better.

It is important for the industry to know what is happening, and how great the risks are. It’s a new challenge for the payments industry, learning and educating ourselves on those dangers is a priority.

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Contactless
April 27th, 2016 by Elma Jane

Near field communication is a contactless communication protocol between devices like (smartphones, tablets, smartwatches or even credit cards themselves) with a nearby NFC-enabled terminal by simply authorizing your device with a passcode or fingerprint authentication.

Both merchants and customers benefit from near field communication technology, by integrating credit cards, train tickets, and coupons all into one device. Faster payment transaction times and fewer physical cards to carry around.

If your smartphone has an integrated NFC chip, you can use a mobile wallet app like Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay for items at retailers that support NFC transactions. Just load up your credit cards on your mobile device and wave or tap your device near an NFC compatible terminal to pay, no card swiping required.

As the technology keeps growing, more NFC compatible smartphones will be available and more businesses will offer NFC card readers for customer’s convenience.

Apple Pay, integrated into the newest generation of Apple mobile devices and incorporates NFC technology. If it becomes widely used by many iPhone users, perhaps merchants will be encouraged to more quickly adopt NFC technology.

Many major banks and credit cards are supporting NFC technology, issuing new cards with embedded NFC chips. This means that you may be able to tap or wave your card at the terminal instead of swiping, no phone required, in the next few years.

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Near Field Communication Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ATM
February 23rd, 2016 by Elma Jane

Cardless ATM’s Could Help Push Mobile Wallet Adoption

The mobile wallet will be the payment method in five to 10 years.

Cardless ATM transactions is a great way to introduce smartphones as payments devices. It could help with the adoption of mobile payments and wallets. Mobile Smart Phones will become the piece of plastic and cards will be a thing of the past…

A multinational banking corporation intends to use (NFC) near-field communication for its service. It will let customers leverage NFC technology on their smartphones to authenticate at the bank’s ATM without a debit card.

An NFC cardless ATM transactions could be compatible with Apple Pay which uses NFC technology.

Benefits:

Speedier ATM cash withdrawal takes about 15 seconds without the debit card compared with 60 to 90 seconds with a debit card, whether it’s a chip or magnetic-stripe transaction.

Safer ATM transaction. No physical connection between the phone and ATM, skimming device to intercept the transaction is gone.

The barcode represents the time of day and what terminal the transaction is taking place at. Everything is tokenized.

Cardless ATM transactions are interesting and an appropriate evolution. 

 

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Near Field Communication, Smartphone Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

NFC
February 9th, 2016 by Elma Jane

Since the implementation of the EMV liability shift last year, consumers are still unsure whether to dip or swipe their payment cards at the checkout register, and transaction process itself is slower than a card swipe.

As the EMV process continues, can contactless register only help to make checkout process faster? With contactless register checkout only, consumers can just tap and pay with either card or mobile wallet.

Contactless like NFC is now a standard feature in most high-end smartphones, and most EMV-enabled point-of-sale terminals contain the necessary technology to accept contactless payments. So the idea of contactless register checkout only is something to test for some merchants in a certain retail sector.

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apple
January 7th, 2016 by Elma Jane

National Transaction is now offering Apple Pay to Canadian Merchants.

Apple Pay works with NTC’s EMV-contactless point of sale terminals in Canada.

Security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay, and when a consumer adds a credit card to Apple’s mobile wallet, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, or on Apple servers.

Apple Pay will create a unique Device Account Number that is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the secure element on the device, the same way it operates in the U.S. Each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.

To pay, consumers simply hold their mobile device near the contactless reader, exactly as they would a contactless card today. The payment information is then passed to the POS system once the consumer confirms the transaction using Touch ID on their device.

Bringing Apple Pay to NTC terminals addresses an increasing consumer demand for contactless payments, while also allowing Canadian businesses to offer customers the convenience of paying through an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

American Express  is Apple’s issuing partner in Canada.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Android
December 16th, 2015 by Elma Jane

Google’s contactless payment solution, Android Pay, will now be available through the mobile checkouts of several Android apps in the U.S.

With this addition, it avoids having to pull out your card everytime you make a purchase, meaning card data never makes it to the merchants. A good news for anyone who is concerned about privacy.

Android Pay is compatible with all Near Field Communication (NFC) or Host Card Emulation (HCE) enabled devices using any OS released since KitKat.

With Coca-Cola signing up as the first merchant in the Google program, a new loyalty program was recently released for the mobile wallet, by tapping your phone on an NFC-enabled Coke vending machine, you’ll get a Coke and get points added into your Android Pay Account for future purchases.

http://www.pymnts.com/news/payment-methods/2015/android-pay-now-in-app-payment-option/

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

NFC
December 7th, 2015 by Elma Jane

Most payments will probably be made with apps in phones or smartwatches in less than a decade from now, using NFC, biometrics or other mechanisms that don’t involve swiping or using plastic cards.

If your mobile device has an integrated NFC chip, you can use a mobile wallet app like Apple Pay and Android Pay to pay for items that support NFC transactions at a retail store. Simply wave your device near an NFC compatible terminal to pay, no card swiping required.

Both Apple Pay and Android Pay have fingerprint scanners on phones, you can enable payments with just a fingerprint scan.

In some countries, it’s easy for consumers to get credit cards with imbedded NFC chips. This means that you may be able to wave your card at the terminal instead of swiping, no phone required. In America, though, because NFC hasn’t caught on until recently, analysts expect that NFC via smartphone and smartwatch services such as Apple Pay and Android Pay will dominate contactless transactions in the next few years.

Just as credit cards replaced cash, credit cards will be replaced by digital payments which will continue to rely on the credit infrastructure but will obscure the plastic card itself.

As consumers, we love to see better products. When it comes to payments, we need Standards and Reliability.

 

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Smartphone Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,