Category: Mobile Payments

Retailer aims to preserve the convenience and security of mobile shopping

Wal-Mart has been experimenting with mobile payments for some time now and the company is beginning to focus more of its efforts on the mobile space. According to Charles Holley, Chief Financial Officer of Wal-Mart, convenience has become one of the most important aspects of mobile commerce, and ensuring that this convenience remains intact as mobile payments become more prominent is becoming a priority. Security and eliminating the costs associated with mobile payments is also becoming important.

Retail is changing to become more mobile-centric

The retail space is beginning to shift and more consumers are beginning to rely on their mobile devices to shop for and purchase products. Finding ways to make the mobile shopping experience enjoyable is important, but Wal-Mart is not yet sure what role mobile payments will play in its overarching business. This may involve exploring new payment options in order to ensure that the company remains on the cutting edge of mobile commerce.

CurrentC may not be the solution that retailers need for the mobile space

Wal-Mart is currently part of the Merchant Consumer Exchange, a consortium of retailers that has its own mobile payments system called CurrentC. The system makes use of QR codes in order to process mobile transactions and boasts of a “secure cloud-hosted network,” which provides extra security for those making payments. CurrentC is currently in a private testing phase and the Merchant Consumer Exchange is beginning to feel pressure to release a comprehensive mobile payments solution in order to compete with other options that are available.

Without an effective solution, retailers may opt to use other mobile payments platforms not developed by the Merchant Consumer Exchange

If such a solution does not come soon, Wal-Mart and other retailers may opt to use other mobile payments platforms, such as Apple Pay. Those involved in the Merchant Consumer Exchange cannot use other payment solutions at this time, which has limited their ability to engage mobile consumers in effective ways. With mobile shopping growing in prominence, this may no longer be a sustainable practice.

This will give the users of the application the opportunity to use a new type of transaction through their smartphones.

A mobile wallet based in India, Paytm, has now announced the introduction of a new feature that will give 25 million users the ability to transfer funds to their bank accounts through the use of their smartphones.

This company is operated by One97, which is a business that is backed by Alibaba, the Chinese e-giant.

Mobile wallets have been rapidly rising in popularity in India. This country is one of the markets in the world where this type of smartphone based payments app has the best chances of success, due to the massive population and the low adoption of credit cards. Many merchants, including online retailers, have had to come up with ways to process transactions through cash. In fact, the current estimate is that even though there are more than a billion people in the country, there are only 450 million bank accounts, not all of which are considered to be actively used.

Mobile wallets provide users with greater reliability than cash without having to obtain a bank account.

That said, for those individuals who do have bank accounts, Paytm has now announced that its mobile payments app – which is supported by many different retailers and services, including Uber – has boosted the versatility of its offerings for the management of small floats of cash.

The users of the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) mobile apps are now able to transfer up to $80 (5,000 INR) per day, and they can make transfers of up to $400 (25,000 INR) per month. The minimum transfer amount is $16 (1,000 INR). The sender needs to have at least $32 (2,000 INR) in credit available to them in order to make the transfer.

This is not the first time that One97 has discussed this new feature, but considering the fact that Alibaba made an investment into the company in February, it is now starting to gain a great deal more attention. That agreement brought an estimated $200 million investment to One97, valuing it at $1 billion and bringing the Chinese e-commerce giant into India for the first time. That company is already wildly successful for its own mobile wallet and payments service, Alipay.