Forget cards, smartphones will soon pay as Eftpos mobile wallet trials to hit in July
Eftpos to begin mobile payment trials with selected retailers in July, a company source told CN, involving 6-10 retailers.
The trails will encompass an eftpos mobile wallet and Near Field Communications (NFC) widget for ‘touch and tap’ payments with your smartphone.
A ‘whole range’ of retailers will be involved in the eftpos trials, an inside source told CN, as the debit card company wants to ‘get an idea of wants going on in the market’ and see what works in various retail markets.
“We need more information to make commercial decisions to get to grips with how (consumers) will react.”
“Demands of consumers differ between say grocery and electronics retailers.” Eftpos looks set to experiment with a variety of retailers – around 6-10 – however deals have not yet been finalised.
The most used debit card payment system in Oz signed a five-year agreement with mobile transactions pioneer, C-SAM, to provide a mobile wallet system which will rival Google Wallet and several other payment system set to hit as NFC technology is roll out gathers momentum.
However, eftpos may call on other technologies also, as NFC is not available on iPhone yet.
The NFC system will be a mobile phone version of the eftpos ‘tap’ card system recently introduced across major retailers like Woolies, Coles. Its a ‘compelling proposition’ as the touch and tap card technology is already being rolled out, but Eftpos want to make sure they get their digital system right, the source said.
Consumers could use several different payment types, a debit card to buy groceries, Mastercard or Visa to buy a TV or other items.
The debit card company wants to provide financial institutions, retailers and consumers with secure, accessible payment solutions, CEO, Bruce Mansfield said last week. It’s a white label product, which means all retailers however big or small can adopt the system in Australia.
Trials of m-wallet will commence in July which Eftpos expects to run for several months, after which it will analyse the data and make a decision for commercial launch.
The card will work in a number of ways: as well as physical stores sales, consumers can pay for online transactions, and by SMS.
So, what else will be in the digital wallet?
Eftpos system will also include QR codes (“a different way of mobile device talking to the merchant”), digital receipts, loyalty card, and special offers and incentives, according to the source.
However, considering consumers regularly lose their smartphone, what about security?
‘We want it be be secure’ and are talking to retailers about various options, it may involve pins or other technology.
Currently the ‘tap’ card system has a max spending rate of $100, so something similar on wallet system may be a possibility. Eftpos has the lowest fraud rate of all the cards in OZ, the source pointed out.
There are currently 30m eftpos cards in circulation throughout Australia, and over 700,000 points of sale.
