ICICI Bank announce the release of their Tap N Pay payment technology

A recent announcement in the prepaid payment technology world was that ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, have collaborated with Tech Mahindra Limited, to launch a contactless payment service that is based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. This innovative new payment service which has been named ‘Tap n Pay’ will allow anyone, including non-ICICI Bank account holders to make over the counter purchases, reducing dependency on cash.

The customer will be able to use their NFC enabled mobile phone at the merchant’s point of sale device to make payments. The new innovation is a pre-paid account that allows customers from any bank to register for it and can transfer money online from any account. Customers are also able to top up their ‘Tap n Pay’ accounts by sending an SMS.

Tech Mahindra managing director and chief executive CP Gurnani stated that “The synergies between the two partners (ICICI Bank and Tech Mahindra) will bring about a new payments ecosystem, parallel to, and yet in harmony with, the existing payment networks in the country,".

The service is currently a closed end service and not a universal payment method. The announcement stated that at the moment the new technology is only for large campuses at corporate offices. For example being used at canteens or to buy meal coupons. To me this is advantageous using it less as a universal card but for certain purposes at the start and then maybe expanding. An issue that can come around with universal tap like payment systems can be unwittingly paying for things you didn’t want to.

This was a problem in London, England. The London Underground has a barrier system were the majority of users swipe their Oyster card which has a set amount on, to get through. However, people often kept the Oyster card in their wallet to swipe and their wallet often already had a tap payment card; this meant that money would sometimes be debited off that card whilst trying to swipe through the barriers. This became a serious problem and announcements were having to be made on the Tannoy public speaker systems to warn customers.

This announcement shows the ongoing advances being made in the prepaid payments industry that seeks to increase payment efficiency and to many, signals the lack of need for physical cash. The increase in these types of innovation, many also believe could mean a lack of dependency in banks. Banks will have to come up with innovations of their own to help keep up with the changing times.

About the Author: Harry Kempe, a marketing intern at IIR USA, who works on various aspects of the industry including social media, marketing analysis and media. He is a recent graduate of Newcastle University who previously worked for EMAP Ltd. and WGSN as a marketing assistant on events such as the World Architecture Festival, World Retail Congress and Global Fashion Awards. He can be reached at hkempe@IIRUSA.com

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Lord & Taylor / Hudson's Bay iBeacon Pilot Shows Promise

Former Hudson's Bay/Lord & Taylor CSO: iBeacon Engagement "Phenomenal" But Does it Have a Future in Payments?

By Marc Dresner, Senior Editor, IIR

The shopper’s path to purchase took an exciting turn in mid-2013 with Apple’s introduction of the iBeacon (followed in short order by a bevy of beacon competitors, of course).

And then things got quiet as everyone went off to play with the shiny new toy…

The attraction is a no-brainer. The ability to beam marketing messages, coupons, etc., to the shopper’s phone in the store while they’re actively shopping and to then check them out at POS is something with the potential to revolutionize retail.

According to Business Insider, about half of the top 100 U.S. retailers have been testing beacons and it estimates the technology will be installed in roughly one-third of stores by the end of 2015.

Indeed, everyone from Walmart to McDonald’s to Major League Baseball has been trialing the Bluetooth transmittors.

Ryan Craver

And the results from those tests are now, finally, slowly trickling into news reports.

So I was pretty excited to learn that Ryan Craver, former SVP of Strategy for Lord & Taylor/Hudson’s Bay Co. and who had spearheaded a beacon test for the department store chains, was available to discuss the results.

Craver and his colleagues tested beacons in three different store environments in the U.S. and Canada ahead of a 140-store rollout. (Author's note: The initiative won Mobile Marketer's 2014 Program of the Year. It's toward the end of the linked article.)

And the results were mixed, but very promising.

“The open rates were phenomenal!”

“Our first hypothesis was that the engagement numbers would be off the chart. That held true. The open rates were phenomenal,” Craver told On Payments.

The beacons did not, however, drive traffic in the numbers Craver expected.

Craver says that’s because the app simply isn’t ubiquitous…yet.

“Once beacons are integrated into apps like Facebook and Twitter, we are going to see much, much bigger numbers.”

“Beacon ecosystems haven’t built up yet. But once they are integrated into some of the apps like Facebook and Twitter, we are going to start to see much, much bigger numbers,” Craver predicted.

But whether beacons have a future as a payments tool is questionable. Craver notes the growing popularity of NFC platforms makes it less likely.

“By the end of 2015 or early 2016, all retailers will need to have chip-and-PIN POS.”

“By the end of 2015 or early 2016, all retailers will need to have chip-and-PIN point-of-sale equipment and that will naturally lead to additional retailers that have NFC capabilities,” Craver said.

“So, maybe NFC beats out beacons?” he added.

In this podcast for On Payments—the All Payments Expo (APEX) interview series—Ryan Craver discusses Lord & Taylor’s beacon study, opportunities and challenges for retailers and whether or not the beacon will be the it app for shoppers.

Access the podcast and a transcript here!

Editor’s note: Ryan Craver will be a featured speaker at APEX 2015—the All Payments Expo—taking place February 23-25 in Las Vegas.

For a brochure or to register for APEX, please visit www.allpaymentsexpo.com.

Ps. LAST CHANCE! REGISTER and SAVE $200 by FRIDAY 1/23 with promo code XU2848BLOG

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Readers Receive 10% Discount to the 2014 All Payments Expo

Save 10% when registering for All Payments Expo 2014 - Use Code: XU2748BLOG

At All Payments Expo, you will hear from and interact with 2,000+ attendees from the most powerful payments companies. For companies both large AND fresh out of Silicon Valley, it's a gathering of industry doers and thinkers, who come together to do business and generate new partnerships.

See you in Las Vegas!

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Predictions on Apple as the Wallet War Continues to Pick up Steam

Industry insiders scrutinize Apple’s every movement: Most recently up for debate was Apple’s wallet debut with Passbook, as well as the revelation that the iPhone 5 would not support NFC.

Apple plays its cards pretty close to the chest, but one industry analyst predicts that the company is revving up for the mobile payments race in a big, big way.

According to Investors.com, Dan Perlin, a RBC Capital analyst, predicts that Apple is likely to launch a closed-loop loyalty program dubbed iPoints. Perlin thinks Apple will be able to leverage the 400 million card accounts already on file with iTunes to build a payments and loyalty program.

NFC (Photo  nicolasnova)

 “This could give Apple an edge over other emerging mobile payment systems such as Google, Square, and eBay’s PayPal unit,” Perlin told Investors.com.

Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec in April 2012 suggests that the next generation iPhone, the 5S (set to be released in June) will be equipped with NFC – only adding to the buzz. For more on this story and full article from investor.com click here. 

Do you think Apple is planning a major entry into the payments space this year? Is this Apple’s attempt to try the same closed-loop, loyalty-based system Starbucks has created? 

At Prepaid Expo this March, there will be plenty of time to debate these new movements in the mobile payments war, including insights from Patrick Gauthier, Head of Product Strategy & Business Operations, Retail Services at PayPal and an on-stage debate on the future of the payments ecosystem with American Express, Green Dot, MasterCard and InComm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryan Geswell is a New Media Analyst in the Finance Division at IIR USA with a background in Marketing and Media. He can be reached at rgeswell@iirusa.com.

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Cashless Food Trucks

Have you ever wished that whenever you get something to eat at a stand or a truck on the side of the road, you wouldn't need cash to pay for your purchase? Wouldn’t you love to just use your debit or credit cards to pay for that two-dollar frank or fifteen-dollar lobster roll? 

Well, gourmet food trucks are now allowing the use of debit and credit cards. They are now equipped with tablets and smartphones for credit card payments and email receipts to paying customers. 

Red Hook Lobster Pound truck (Photo: mediageek)

Global transaction will increase from $241 billion in 2011 to $1 trillion in 2015. Gourmet trucks used to be a cash only operation but with the prices and the times changing, it was only a matter of time for the use of credit cards. 

Gourmet trucks are using Square and with that attachment, the business can then accept the payment. The other fact that works with the usage of credit cards is that the business can adjust the state taxes accordingly. 

Red Hook Lobster Pound Truck is one of the trucks that are utilizing this aspect of card transactions. This allows the trucks to travel through each state and adjust the taxes. 

But one of the problems with accepting electronic payments is the wireless connection. The hope for trucks to combat the connectivity disadvantage is that carriers continue to improve 4G LTE networks. Even though NFC seems to have a bright future in the way people receive payments, there are downsides to it. A merchant must acquire NFC readers and consumers have to buy NFC-enabled phones. 

The efficiency of mobile payments is still improving but there is something there. Businesses can integrate their mobile-payment transactions with QuickBooks, which unifies bookkeeping. Of all the innovations that are moving from cash to plastic cards, who would've thought the last item that would be on the list would be a food truck?

The food truck concept is already a great convenience for someone who does not want to pay a whole lot of money (unless you want lobster rolls) and keep on going. But now that some truck owners are going to use modern devices so that you can now use your cards it is even better. 

About the Author

Adam Wells studies English at Pace University.

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Live from Prepaid Expo 2012: ABCs of Mobile Payments

Presented by James Sufrin, VP of Orbethur Technologies of America Corp. and Mike Fletcher, CEO of GiftTango....

Strong adoption of digital B2B Channels – Driving force for content getting into market

Mobile Payment Today:
Key Fact #1: 1 out 6 phones will have NFC by 2014
- 302 million smartphones shipped in 2010, 71% growth over 2009’s shipment levels
- Paypal launched NFC peer-to-peer mobile app
- Google Wallet – will standardize NFC use
- Global Platform has finalized key specifications enabling massive commercial roll, outs on OTA management, TSM, certification
- GSMA issued a statement
- Joint Ventures
- Visa, Mastercard

Payments:
- Square=POS
- Mobile wallets: Many or one?
- Coupons, Products, & Promotions: Instant, Text promotions, Interacting with real-time TV use

Services:
- Service: NFC payments or more much more than payments?
- Identification

Mobile Wallet App/UI:
- Basic:
- Payment card emulation
- Notifications
- Extended value:
- Transactions logs
- Settings & preferences
- Passcode management
- Added Value:
- Mobile offers & passwords
Mobile Adoption around the world:
- Imminent adoption for digital in the UK
- Mass adoption for US for Gift Cards: Holiday Season
NFC: How to get there:

One universal & ideal NFC ecosystem does not exist
- Key questions:
- Whom to partner with?
- Which infrastructure?
- What services to push?
- What pricing strategy?

Valerie M. Russo is a Senior Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a technology, anthropology, marketing and publishing business acumen.  She will be attending Prepaid Expo USA 2012 and covering the event live via Twitter and the Prepaid Expo Blog. She is a published poet and also maintains a literary blog. She may be reached atvrusso@iirusa.com. Follow her @Literanista.

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