A new digital wallet has been launched by the store to let shoppers pay for purchases without cards.
Coles has now released their new mobile payments wallet service called Pay Tag, which is meant to allow people to purchase their groceries and collect reward points at the supermarket chain without having to bring any plastic cards with them to the checkout counter.
The mobile wallet has now been launched and is available to shoppers at the store who carry smartphones.
According to the grocery chain, this mobile payments is the first of its kind that was issued by a retailer to bring contactless smartphone technology and loyalty cards together into one service. The Coles Pay Tag can be used by all customers with the retailer’s credit card and a smartphone. Beyond paying for purchases, it also gives customers the chance to collect their FlyBuys points by tapping their smartphones on a reader device at the checkout counter.
Users can also use the mobile payments app to view their available credit, account balance, and other information.
The service also allows customers to gain access to the due date of their account’s bill, and their transaction history. They can view FlyBuys offers and activate them over their mobile devices, as well.
Although most contactless payment services based on tapping the device against a reader use NFC technology that is built into the phone. However, because the majority of smartphones are not near field communications enabled, Coles has taken a different route. They have simply contained the information in a sticker that the customer can attach to the back of her or her phone.
This way, even without enabled NFC technology within the device, its sticker can still be tapped against the reader and the mobile payments can be made at the checkout counter. That is all that is required when it comes to transactions under $100, whereas a four digit PIN must be entered in order to complete transactions that are greater than that amount. The retailer has already announced that if a tag has been fraudulently used, the customer will receive a reimbursement for that amount.
Unique commercial NFC payments service launched by BBVA
BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) has made technology news by becoming the initial bank to unveil near field communication (NFC) technology in its commercial contactless payments service that is based on Visa’s host card emulation (HCE) specifications.
Bank customers can utilize the payments solution by downloading the latest version of the BBVA Wallet app.
Customers who are interested in taking advantage of the new Visa cloud based payments service only need to obtain the most recent version of the app and they can begin making NFC payments. That said, consumers will also need to have a mobile phone that can run Android 4.4 and is equipped with NFC technology. However, customers who do not have a suitable handset may be able to benefit from contactless stickers which the banking firm will be making available.
In addition to providing contactless mobile payments, the BBVA Wallet instantly notifies customers of every transaction they make, as well as provides them with offers, discounts and even finance options they can purchase.
The global payment systems director at BBVA, Mehmet Sezgin said, “Our employees and some of our customers, who are the most active users of BBVA Wallet in Spain, are already using this latest technology that gives BBVA the opportunity to offer our millions of customers worldwide an incredibly simple and intuitive way to start using their phone for contactless payments.”
BBVA’s technology news is good news for the U.S., Chile and Mexico
The bank explained that it is Visa’s cloud based payment specifications that has made the international expansion of BBVA Wallet possible and that part of this includes utilizing HCE technology. Payments that are cloud based allow in-store transactions, which use secure data that does not require security that is hardware based but, rather, is kept within the bank’s “cloud based” systems. The company’s goal is for their mobile wallet to be carried and used by their customers across all of the geographical regions where the business operates.
Currently, BBVA customers in Spain with NFC enabled Android smartphones can use the new mobile payments service. However, later this year, the banking firm expects to extend its contactless payments service to customers in Chile, Mexico and the United States, which is likely welcome technology news for those bank customers looking to take advantage of this great new service.
