Tag: MasterCard

Small merchants have yet to show enthusiasm for mobile payments

Mobile commerce is having difficulty gaining traction among small businesses in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, these companies account for more than 90% of the businesses in the country, but they have yet to show significant support for mobile payments. Large retailers and banks, however, have become quite enthusiastic about mobile commerce, offering consumers services that allow them to manage their money and shop directly from the smartphones and tablets.

NFC technology proves somewhat unattractive for small businesses

One of the reasons that small businesses may not be supporting mobile payments is because NFC technology comprises much of the mobile commerce infrastructure. NFC technology allows digital information to be transmitted over short distances and it has become a powerful tool for the mobile payments space. Most prominent payment services, such as Apple Pay, make use of this technology in order to facilitate transactions, but this requires that physical merchants have an NFC-enabled terminal that is able to interact with this technology.

EMV standards may drive the adoption of mobile commerce among retailers

For small businesses, adoption of NFC technology may be too costly, which has stunted the growth of mobile commerce among some merchants. An alternative, however, is new Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) standards, which retailers are required to embrace by October 1. These standards allow all retailers to adopt new payment terminals that support EMV cards. This will allow retailers to also embrace mobile payments, because EMV-enabled cards will be associated with the payment services being used by consumers.

Small retailers have little interest in EMV standards

While small retailers will also have to adopt EMV-enabled terminals, many have yet to outline plans to do so, partly due to high costs. If retailers do not embrace the new EMV standards, they will be held liable for any fraudulent purchases that are made through their establishments. Once small retailers begin feeling the consequences of these fraudulent purchases, however, they are likely to adopt the standards and begin acquiring EMV-enabled terminals.

The golf event has brought a traditional experience together with some of the latest transaction tech.

Despite the fact that many of the most loved features of golf are based on centuries old traditions, the PGA Tour has invited some of the latest tech into its event by accepting mobile payments through smartphones.

To do this, the PGA Tour has partnered up with MasterCard, particularly in Edison, New Jersey.

The event held at the Barclays will use MasterCard’s mobile payments tech to make it possible for attendees to be able to buy what they want at concession stands using their smartphones. Each one of those stands is equipped with POS terminals that will allow for contactless payments, in addition to Qkr! – MasterPass. To incentivize the use of this tech for paying for these purchases, those who use their smartphones to buy will receive a discount of about 10 percent off the total bill.

Fans can make mobile payments directly using either Android or iOS based smartphones at the event.

By choosing to pay using Qkr!, fans are able to use mobile technology as a type of replacement for using a credit card. It is meant to boost the convenience level for people who will be attending the event, as people already bring their smartphones with them wherever they go. Moreover, the belief is that it will help to reduce the waiting time for the customers that are purchasing concessions.

According to PGA Tour senior vice president of corporate partnerships, Brian Oliver, “Technology plays such a critical role in enhancing the spectator experience at our golf tournaments, and our long-standing relationship with MasterCard has helped ensure that we are delivering the latest in payment technology.” He went on to point out that MasterCard is continually boosting the safety and convenience of making purchases while at the event course.

He also went on to express that they are quite excited to be using this mobile payments technology at The Barclays. The Qkr! application use is meant to help fans to be able to keep their attention on the main event so that they won’t ever miss a single thing.