Mobile payments pilot launched by LevelUp

The test run is being launched at college campuses in partnership with Chartwells.

LevelUp, a mobile payments startup, has just announced that it is taking an important step forward in the smartphone based transaction environment by running a trial of its service among the demographic that is most likely to carry compatible devices.

It is starting this pilot project on college campuses, as students of this age are highly likely to carry smartphones.

This mobile payments test is being conducted in partnership with Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services, a company that supplies food to colleges across the United States. Throughout this trial of the smartphone transaction service, certain colleges will allow LevelUp to be used to pay for meals at the dining halls.

At the moment, the mobile payments trial includes Northeastern University (Boston) and Buffalo State (New York).

According to Chartwells, it agreed to take part in the LevelUp pilot project at the two colleges because it believes that mobile payments will help to make the ordering process at mealtime both faster and more convenient. The vice president of marketing and creative services at Chartwells, Patti Girardi, explained that “Chartwells chose to pilot the new payment system at Buffalo State and Northeastern because we thought it was a perfect fit for our partners.”

Girardi went on to explain that LevelUp was a strong match for Chartwells because it is also capable of offering the company analytics about the purchases that are being made, the visits that are made to the sites, as well as the return visits. This data could be highly beneficial in determining precisely which limited time offers and promotions have been successful among students, and when sales fluctuations are occurring at retail locations. The information could be applied to better understand the purchasing behaviors of the students that they serve.

To use the mobile payments service, the student will need to have downloaded the LevelUp app. It functions in the same way at the dining halls in the college as it does at other merchants who accept these transactions. A payment card is linked by the student to a personal QR code, which is then rendered on the app. The point of sale is equipped with a scanner that can scan the code in order to complete the transaction.