Category: Mobile Payments

According to a new survey from Square, customers who pay using NFC tech are more likely to tip.

NFC mobile payments are fast and are virtually instantaneous. This may be one of the reasons why consumer who use this type of payment tend to tip more compared to those who pay using traditional methods like magstripe cards. According to a study conducted in Portland by California-based mobile payment firm Square, 73% of customers who used near field communications (NFC) payments at point of sale (POS) left tips compared to only 67% of customers who used magnetic stripe cards.

Square spent six weeks in Portland educating local businesses about contactless payments.

For more than two months, Square remained in Portland for its #PayFasterPortland campaign. During the campaign, an increasing number of Portlanders began using their mobile devices to pay at local businesses that upgraded to Square’s new contactless and chip reader device.

Thousands of Portland sellers implemented Square’s new chip card and NFC mobile payments reader.

Square’s chip card and NFC reader is a small pocket-sized device with a powerful battery. It wirelessly connects to Android or iOS mobile devices and is made for NFC and chip, accepting EVM chip cards and Apple Pay as well as other contactless payments. The mini device is also designed to work with the free POS Square app

According to the official Square blog, Portland now has the highest “tap-to-pay” rates in the United States.

“Even before #PayFasterPortland, the city was number one in the country for orders for our new contactless and chip reader. And now the rate of people in Portland paying on Square’s new reader with mobile wallets like Apple Pay is higher than the national average,” the blog noted.

Square began rolling out its first contactless readers in November of last year. In March 2016, the company’s CEO Jack Dorsey revealed that the reader received over 350,000 pre-orders.

Due to the ease and speed of NFC mobile payments and with more businesses implementing the necessary devices that enable them to offer this payment option, this tech is likely to grow among both businesses and consumers across the country. It will be interesting to see if the high tipping percentage continues among NFC users.

Walmart mobile payments roll out in 19 new states.

Walmart Pay is available in approximately 3,700 of its stores across the United States. Although it failed to reach its initial goal of launching the payment service to every store by the end of June, it added close to 1,300 stores in 19 new states throughout last week. Now, the total number of states where the mobile payments service is available has reached 37 and also includes Washington D.C., reported Chain Store Age.

The digital wallet service rollout started back in May 2016.

The service was officially announced by the monster retailer back in December of 2015. Texas and Arkansas were the first states to receive the service. Walmart’s payment solution – which works via the retailer’s mobile shopping app – launched at 600 stores across both states back in May.

The 19 new states where Walmart Pay is now live include: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Ohio , Idaho, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island.

Walmart Pay has a massive built-in potential customer base.

Currently, Walmart’s mobile app has 22 million active users. With such a huge consumer base, Walmart Pay has plenty of potential for success.

The mobile payments service from Walmart is easy to use and is one of the options on the retailer’s mobile app. Consumer with the app can choose the payment option at checkout, which activates their smartphone camera. With their camera they scan the code displayed at the register. The scanned code will connect them to Walmart Pay. Once the transaction is complete, an e-recipe is sent to the app. Customer can view this e-receipt whenever they want.

In addition to their own digital wallet service, the American multinational retail corporation also intends to accept other forms of digital and mobile payments within its stores.

While certainly not the first to launch it s own mobile payments solution, Walmart’s decision to rollout Walmart Pay could prove advantageous for the company. Although consumers aren’t likely to obtain many merchant-specific payment apps, it is the largest Tier I retailers – like Walmart – that have the highest potential to experience the most success with these services.