Tag: mcdonald’s

McDonald’s brings mobile payments support to China stores

| October 7, 2015

McDonald’s teams with Ant Financial in order to support mobile shoppers

McDonald’s has partnered with China’s Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, in order to support mobile payments. The company sees major promise in China’s mobile commerce market, especially as consumers begin to look for ways to pay for products in a convenient fashion. Some 2,100 of McDonald’s stores in China will now be accepting payments made through Alipay, which is the country’s most prominent mobile payments service.

Company has plans to fully support mobile payments in China by 2016

McDonald’s stores in Shanghai will be the first to begin supporting mobile payments. By March of 2016, all of the company’s stores in China will be accepting mobile transactions. Ant Financial suggests that consumers using Alipay can complete a transaction in only two seconds, which will ensure that they have access to a convenient service. In order to initiate a mobile transaction, consumers will only have to scan QR codes, which have become prominent tools in the mobile commerce space.

Alibaba continues to show aggressive support of the mobile commerce market in Asia

Mobile Payments - McDonald'sAlibaba has been playing a major role in Asia’s mobile commerce space. The company has already established a dominant lead in the Chinese e-commerce space and has moved aggressively into the mobile payments field. Recently, Alibaba announced that it was investing more money into India’s mobile commerce market, forming a deal with that country’s leading mobile payments company, Paytm. The deal is estimated to be valued at $680 million and is expected to have a major impact on how Paytm supports the growth of mobile commerce in India.

McDonald’s stores in the US already support mobile payments made through various services

In the United States, McDonald’s has already become involved in the mobile payments space. The company accepts mobile transactions coming from a variety of services, including Samsung Pay and Android Pay. In some cases, QR codes are used to initiate transactions, but NFC technology is also used as an effective way to engage consumers using their mobile devices to make purchases.

Google’s mobile payments service could launch in a matter of days

| August 27, 2015

Android Pay may be on the way sooner than expected

Google may have plans to launch its new mobile payments service, Android Pay, sooner than expected. According to a notice sent to some of Android Pay’s retail partners, such as McDonald’s, employees are being trained to understand what mobile payments are and how to assist customers making such transactions. These notices suggest that Android Pay will actually become available on August 26 or very shortly thereafter, but there is no telling whether or not Google’s new service will find success.

Google has had trouble with mobile payments in the past

Google already has a position in the mobile payments market, having launched its first platform, Google Wallet, some years ago. The Wallet platform experienced a turbulent launch, with some security issues leaving consumers wary of the concept of mobile transactions. Google has been working to improve the Wallet service and it has begun to generate momentum among consumers, but the company may be showing more priority for Android Pay in the future. Google does not have plans to kill its Wallet service, however, and both services are likely to work alongside one another.

Android Pay already has significant support

Google Mobile PaymentsAndroid Pay already has significant support in many parts of the United States. Once launched, the service will be accepted in more than 700,000 stores throughout the country. Transactions and financial information will be protected by biometric technology, with a user’s fingerprint serving as the key that unlocks the mobile payments service.

Google will have to fight Apple and Samsung in order to find success in the mobile payments field

Google will be competing directly with both Samsung and Apple, both of whom have their own mobile payments services. Apple has, perhaps, established a more formidable foothold in the market, as its payment service was launched last year and has already attracted significant consumer support. Apple plans to launch its service in the United Kingdom in the near future. Samsung is currently testing its own payment service in South Korea, with plans to launch the service at some point later this year.