Report • 08.02.2013
Mobile payment in the retail trade – innovative, diverse and future-oriented
Tablets and smartphones as mini-POS terminals for mobile retailers
As before, a major focus at EuroCIS 2013 – the leading trade fair for retail technology in Düsseldorf from 19 to 21 February 2013 – will be on special innovative payment systems for retailers. Retailers continue to be interested in the subject of mobile payment.
A wide range of vendors will be represented at EuroCIS, demonstrating today’s mobile payment options as well as the most likely trends of the future. Vendors will include B+S Card Services, CCV Deutschland, ConCardis, Easycash/Ingenico, GK Software, InterCard, Itellium, Magtek, Motorola, S-Card, SIX Payment Services, TeleCash, Telefonica, Telekom, VeriFone oder Wincor Nixdorf.
“The latest and most important challenges are contact-free cards, online shopping by mobile phone, smartphones and tablets as mini-POS terminals for mobile retailers and mobile wallets for contact-fee payment on the internet and at the checkout. Numerous European pilot projects have shown that mobile payment is now ready for a full market rollout,” says Horst Förster, member of the Payment Systems Workgroup of the EHI Retail Institute.
Mobile phones and mobile services – well established in the retail trade
The triumphant advance of modern smartphones and tablet PCs is continuing. Many customers are using internet-enabled mobile phones and tablets for mobile internet shopping, for scanning QR codes and for mobile information on products and services.
Retailers continue to see consumer convenience as an important goal. Many retailers are therefore offering their customers a range of new services that have already proved their worth. These include:
- Customer, product and service information by e-mail, through text messaging (SMS/MMS) or on the internet, e.g. about the delivery status or the warranty status of a product.
- Direct access to product information via a QR code
- QR shopping – direct, targeted access via QR code to products in online shops through the scanning of QR codes on advertising posters at railway stations, at bus stops and in supermarkets.
- Dedicated mobile apps can provide direct and convenient access to online shops, save vouchers (m-coupons), provide details of bonus points, find branches, obtain information on special offers and discounts and about the availability of ordered products for collection.
- Redemption of mobile vouchers at retail checkouts, e.g. barcodes and QR codes that can be read at the checkout terminal
- Acceptance of contact-free card payments at retail checkouts
Contact-free mobile payments – transparency for retailers
To illustrate mobile payment methods transparently and in practical terms, a number of trends will be highlighted at EuroCIS:
- Mobile payment on the mobile internet
- Smartphones and tablet – mini-POS terminals for the retail trade
- Mobile wallets – contact-free payment at the checkout and on the internet
Mobile payment on the mobile internet
Mobile customers want to use their smart phones for convenient internet shopping, e.g. via a mobile app or QR code that provides information on available products and services. Many retailers have therefore set up their own online shops and are offering suitable mobile apps for this purpose.
Mobile payment in a mobile online shop is “as simple as paying on the internet”. PCs have simply been joined by tablets and smart phones as new types of terminals.
Throughout Europe the range of m-payment options offered by mobile online shops therefore corresponds to the familiar e-payment options on the internet. This includes, for instance, card payments, direct debit (ELV), prepaid products (e.g. paysafecard), e-wallets (e.g. PayPal, MyWallets, V.me from VISA and paypassWallet from MasterCard), online bank transfers (e.g. giropay, direct transfer) and text message payments (e.g. mpass).
Smartphones and tablets – mini-POS terminals for the retail trade
Mobile retailers can use tablets and smart phones not only as mobile checkouts, but also as mini-POS terminals. Such terminals can handle card payments via tablets and smart phones online, on the internet, and also with the use of a small cardreader in a chip & PIN transaction. In Germany, payments are supported via girocard, direct debit (ELV) and credit cards, and throughout Europe via debit, prepaid and credit cards.
Mobile wallets – contact-free payment at the checkout and on the internet
Contact-free cards are now clearly being rolled out European-wide, e.g. through the use of PayPass, payWave functions and in Germany as well with girogo function. The relevant contact-free form factors are cards and NFC stickers. The retail trade is set to equip its EFTPOS terminal infrastructure with contact-free terminals and cardreaders as part of its renewal cycle. This technical infrastructure allows mobile payment via NFC-enabled terminals such as smartphones and tablets.
Anticipating NFC-enabled terminals and to cater for both online shopping and contact-free POS terminals at retail checkouts, new mobile wallets (m-wallets) are now becoming available for mobile payment purposes. These include the new card-based m-wallets: V.me from VISA, paypassWallet from MasterCard, Serve from American Express, the PayPal eWallet (well known on the internet), MyWallet from Deutsche Telekom and – in the future – m-wallet applications from Vodafone and O2.
What is new about card-based m-wallets is that – even on a mobile phone – card data is saved either to a secure part of the sim card or to the cloud, in the background. According to card organisations, this means that secure mobile payments under EMV standards will soon be possible both on contact-free POS terminals and on the internet.
Outlook
Four trends can clearly be identified at the moment and will be highlighted at EuroCIS 2013:
- The rollout of contact-free cards and contact-free POS terminals has started on a European-wide scale and is creating the technical basis for contact-free mobile payment at the checkout.
- The retail trade is rolling out QR code shopping, online shopping on the mobile internet by mobile phone and mobile services to encourage customer loyalty. Mobile payment services are used in the same way “as on the internet”.
- Small-scale retailers and mobile merchants will increasingly use mini-POS terminals based on smart phones and tablet PCs. So-called mobile payment services are – depending on the provider – traditional card payments via chip & PIN (card present) and on the internet (card not present).
- In the retail trade it will also be possible to pay contact-free via m-wallets. As leading providers are opting for card-based m-wallets, no major technical obstacles can be expected at contact-free POS terminals in the retail trade. Retailers can be relaxed about the wallet war of service providers.
- At the moment the number of NFC-enabled smart posters, mobile phones and tablets is still quite small. However, if sufficient NFC-enabled terminals become available from mid-2013, they are set to trigger new trends in the retail trade.
channels: mobile payment, mobile shopping
