Introduction
The total value of proximity mobile payments is set to see a significant growth of 210% in 2016. Mobile payments are both attractive and safe for consumers and have the power to revolutionise the shopping experience, making payments more convenient and faster. This brings the combined benefits of creating an easy customer journey for payments and increased profits through reduced overheads and value-add services.
Nordics ahead with MobilePay
Tech-savvy consumers, world-leading smartphone penetration and progressive banks have kept the Nordics ahead of the game with mobile payments. In 2013, Danske Bank launched MobilePay to address the need for very simple money transfers. The ambition was to make transferring money to friends and businesses as easy as sending a text message. This ambition was realised and the MobilePay app can now be used in combination with MobilePay Point of Sale (PoS) devices for businesses wanting mobile payment solutions within bricks and mortar retail and leisure.
Danske Bank’s MobilePay payments are now accepted in shops across Scandinavia and all that is required of the customer is a free app that is installed on their iOS, Android or Windows Mobile device. Once purchases are scanned at the checkout and payment is requested, the mobile device is waved over the smart beacon with the app running. In response a customer is immediately shown the purchase amount and the app waits for confirmation through a simple pin and swipe gesture. In seconds a purchase is made without having to enter any amount manually or having to use a payment card.
Since launch the service has grown significantly with exponential growth through 2015 and expectations that customers will double in 2016 as additional retailers come on-board. In December 2015 alone 10M DKK was transacted on MobilePay. Mark Wraa-Hansen, head of MobilePay Danske Bank, attributes a large part of the growth to corporate customers: McDonald's and Danish Supermarket chain Rema 1000 have adopted the MobilePay solution at their retail outlets.
Netclearance’smBeaconPay behind the world’s largest deployment
MobilePay is a collaboration between Netclearance, Danske Bank and GoAppified, a Netclearance reseller, in Denmark and Norway and has seen Netclearance deliver over 30,000MobilePay units throughout the Nordics - the world’s largest deployment of beacons as a payment solution.The beacon technology behind MobilePay is Netclearance’s mBeaconPay, a smart PoS beacon solution that can satisfy the need of banks, consumers and merchants. mBeaconPay has BLE, Wi-Fi, NFC and QR capabilities in a single device supporting mobile payments in the real world.
Thanks to Netclearance’s smart beacon, this mobile payment solution provides a phone-agnostic approach by supporting a range of platforms regardless of make, model and operating system.
Intuitive customer experience, inexpensive technology and removal of merchant fees
The solution does not require technology and equipment that is expensive or difficult to access for retailers and it is intuitive to use and easy to understand for the end users. The payment is so easy and effortless that it has attracted attention outside the country, with interest expressed from potential clients in Germany, China, Spain, the UK and Finland“They have all been mighty impressed by how easy and fast it is. People get really pleasantly surprised, and sometimes they have to try several times because they have a hard time believing that it really is that easy” says Danish supermarket Rema 1000’s project leader, Steffen Skov Larsen.
This disruptive technology has implications beyond ease of use for the customer and retailer. Because the technology takes transactions direct from bank to retailer, it changes the value chain by removing merchant fees, acquirers and payment service providers from the fee structure and comes with enhanced security so there is less chance of fraud or error.
Beacon technology gives banks and retailers control
mBeaconPay gives banks and retailers control to implement their own systems, creating bespoke white-labelled devices to the client’s specification with a custom payment system outside the expensive walled gardens of Google, Apple and Samsung. By directly engaging their customers, banks and retailers create additional brand loyalty as well as providing a desirable feature to entice new customers to the brand.