This partnership extends Beyond’s payment processing suite and allows small business owners to accept EMV chip card payments from their mobile devices.

From Tuesday’s announcement:

SwipeSimple is a secure EMV-enabled mobile payment acceptance suite that includes an EMV chip card reader, mobile application for iOS and Android, and a back-office web dashboard for merchants to accept payments and manage their businesses. SwipeSimple provides key layers of security including point to point encryption and a PCI level 1 compliant payment gateway.

With SwipeSimple, merchants will be able to:

• Accept EMV chip card payments on their smartphone or tablet
• Manage their inventory in real-time, leveraging SwipeSimple’s cloud-based inventory and item-tracking
• Adjust tip and tax levels, through an easy to use tip and tax option interface
• Accept payments without cellular data or Wi-Fi by enabling Offline Mode
• Get smart analytics, with SwipeSimple’s comprehensive reporting that enables merchants to make better business decisions

“At Beyond, we are committed to offering tools that meet the needs of business owners. SwipeSimple enables our clients to accept payments securely from their own devices with EMV enabled readers,” said Robert O. Carr, Founder and CEO at Beyond. “Mobile payments with SwipeSimple bring a new addition to our suite of services allowing opportunity for businesses to grow.”

To learn more, click here.

The post Beyond Launches SwipeSimple Mobile Point-of-Sale appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The cloud-based solution enables fast mobile transactions for a variety of mobile wallets and card schemes, allowing retailers of all sizes to offer their customers greater payment flexibility without having to install new hardware.

The solution is built on P97’s PetroZone® platform, one of the industry’s most mature, end-to-end mobile payment platforms in the United States. It ties directly with the NCR RPOS and EPS point of sale solutions to enable fast, easy, indoor and outdoor mobile payments at gas stations and convenience stores around the U.S., and eventually around the world.

“This landmark agreement with NCR enables us to stay ahead of the innovation curve and offer customers convenient mobile payments, both inside the store and at the pump,” said Don Frieden, Founder and CEO, P97 Networks.

To learn more, click here.

The post NCR Rolls Out Indoor and Outdoor Mobile Payment Solution appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

That was the formal announcement from the company shared with MMW on Thursday.

Venmo customers can now more easily split online purchases among friends and share payments on the Venmo feed, making it easier than ever to celebrate group experiences and remove the awkwardness that comes with cash or checks.

Just in time for the holiday season, Venmo customers can shop at millions of merchants that accept PayPal – such as Lululemon, Forever 21, and Foot Locker – using their Venmo balance or linked credit card, debit card, or bank account. At launch, Venmo customers will receive a notification in their Venmo app inviting them shop. Eligible purchases made with Venmo qualify for purchase protection, which may provide a full refund if customers don’t receive an item or it’s significantly different than the description.

“Offering a way to pay at millions of retailers is a major step in the evolution of Venmo,” said Bill Ready, Chief Operating Officer of PayPal. “Our vision for Venmo is to not only be the go-to app for payments between friends, but also a ubiquitous digital wallet that helps consumers spend wherever and however they want to pay, regardless of device. Through 2017 and beyond, we will continue to evolve the payments experience that has helped make Venmo a cultural staple, while also applying that same magic to split, share and pay in new ways.”

The post Thanks a Million (Times Two): Venmo Trumpets Latest Milestone appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

We’re told that eligible cardholders of participating banks will be able to make payments with Fitbit Pay, Fitbit’s new payment function, when available.

So how does it work?

With Fitbit Pay, Visa and Fitbit are meeting demand amongst the majority of wearable owners who, according to the recent “How We Will Pay” survey* by PYMNTS and Visa, see the opportunity for wearables to improve the way they pay throughout their day with a more secure and seamless cashless payment experience.

Not surprisingly, the continuous rise in mobile connectivity has led to the proliferation of digital payments. And Visa is now in position to make the most of the opportunity at hand.

“Visa continues to focus on delivering the tools and technologies that empower our partners to offer safe, secure and convenient payments to consumers via connected devices,” said Jim McCarthy, executive vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa Inc. “Partnering with Fitbit on its new Fitbit Pay service is another step forward in the growth of Internet of Things and shows how Visa is enabling companies across the technology industry to help us all move towards a cashless future.”

The post Visa, Fitbit Take Health and Mobile Payments to the Next Level appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post by Lisa Paccione, Vice President, Americas Sales, Syniverse 

Although mobile wallet has been available on smartphones for several years for payments, it has been an underutilized asset to complement apps and other mobile communication channels in order to enable marketers to better engage with customers and boost loyalty.

While some brands have started integrating mobile wallet, most still haven’t realized the full opportunity for engagement. Mobile wallet awareness is now reaching a point where marketers can no longer afford to not fully embrace it. With this in mind, Syniverse recently completed a mobile wallet study that offers insights for marketers seeking to take greater advantage of this channel. We’ll explore some of the key findings from the study before diving into strategies for getting started with mobile wallet.

New Findings and New Directions for Mobile Wallet Use

In a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers and 1,000 U.K. consumers, we identified three critical findings:

• Nearly two thirds of respondents said they are aware of mobile wallet, and it’s available on 90 percent of smartphones today.
• Of those that have a mobile wallet in the U.S., 53 percent use it at least once a week and as many as 29 percent use it daily.
• More than half of those in the U.S. that initially did not know about mobile wallets are interested in using them.

In addition to this study, a 2017 Mobile Consumer Report shows that nearly 40 percent of smartphone users surveyed in the U.K. and U.S. currently use the non-payment portion of a mobile wallet to store information – such as offers, coupons and airline boarding passes. This promising insight is explored further in the report showing that nearly 70 percent of those surveyed believe mobile wallet offers from a brand would positively impact their view of the brand and would encourage them to make a purchase.

These findings provide important data for marketers. There is a clear market opportunity for adopting mobile wallet solutions. Based on our findings, however, one of the first steps is for brands to create awareness of wallet and educate consumers by enticing them to take advantage of mobile wallet’s benefits. Mobile wallet will offer an increasingly valuable engagement channel for those brands that create compelling strategies.

Three Strategies to Get Started

Based on this survey data and lessons learned from recent customer engagements, here are three strategies that I’ve found to be crucial for enlightening consumers about mobile wallet and getting a wallet campaign off the ground:

• Use geolocation-based offers – Using geolocation to determine when a person is near a store and reaching them with a coupon, reward, or other mobile wallet item at the “mobile moment,” when they are most likely to be making a purchasing decision, is critical. This precisely timed outreach enables brands to influence customers to act on a particular purchase as well as encourage them to shop more.
• Integrate with loyalty programs – Mobile wallet offers a particularly complementary fit with loyalty programs. Customers can immediately earn and redeem points without having to search for their physical loyalty cards or dig through their apps for information. Developing a loyalty program that integrates mobile wallet items offers a unique benefit that can spur customers to use loyalty programs more heavily and thereby shop and increase purchases.
• Bridging instore and digital – Offering mobile experiences along the customer’s instore journey through wallet can help brands boost revenue, increase efficiencies and remain agile. As one example, Chipotle Mexican Grill recently launched a mobile wallet campaign when it closed all its locations for a company-wide meeting. For customers who visited a store that was closed, Chipotle offered those customers a free burrito, redeemable through a mobile wallet coupon. The restaurant set up window signs urging customers to text a number to receive a coupon, and the response rate was unprecedented, with about 5.3 million people requesting the offer, and 3.5 million people redeeming it.

In these ways, mobile wallet offers a powerful but still underutilized engagement channel to dynamically connect with customers. The first step is to entice consumers to try mobile wallet and educate them that wallet is much more than a payment method. These three strategies here can help brands take the first steps.

The post New Data Unveils Strategies to Help You Get Started with Mobile Wallet appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The keynote speaker lineup for this year’s event includes Don Bush, vice president of marketing at Kount; Bill Clark, chief operating officer of ZipRemit; Jack Connors, leader of Google’s merchant partnerships for Android Pay; Aaron Lint, Vice President of Research at Arxan; and Usha Nandigala, Technologist and Product Lead at General Motors.

Confirmed presenters for the breakout sessions include:

• from MasterCard, Senior Managing Counsel Member of Digital Payments and Labs, Keun Dong Kim and SVP for New Commerce Partnerships, Stephane Wyper;
• from Bank of America, Chief Marketing and Digital Strategy Officer, Michael Roberts;
• from Visa, Vice President – Merchant & Acquirer Partnership Strategy, Debjit Sarkar;
• from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Global Product Manager, HPE Security, Smrithi Konanur;
• from Intel Corporation, Strategic Planning (AI/ML, Data Center Group), Meg Mude; and
• from McKinsey & Company, Global Payments Expert, Laura Brodsky; Expert Associate Partner, Robert Mau; and Junior Partner, Kevin Mole.

If you’re not familiar, The Mobile Payments Conference provides access to the World’s foremost leaders from banking and financial services, to retail and technology.

For more info or to register for the conference, click here.

The post Google, MasterCard Execs Inbound for 2017 Mobile Payments Conference appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The unveiling came this week at the ARIA Resort and Casino in Las Vegas during Phillip 66’s Momentum: Driven by Excellence conference.

The new platform, we’re told, will connect retail fueling consumers to Phillips 66, Conoco, and 76 locations through a mobile app using a dynamic station finder, enabling a mobile payment wallet and delivering contextual commerce digital offers.

Phillips 66’s GM of Marketing Services Rod Palmer expanded on the new offering in a session with customers, telling them that “We designed our mobile solution to build on top of technology you should already have at your store, and unlike some of our competitors, our offering doesn’t just work at the pump, but inside the store as well. It’s designed to work for all of your business.”

“A company with the innovative spirit of Phillips 66 helps move the entire retail fueling industry forward,” said Donald Frieden, founder and CEO of P97. “P97 is working with Phillips 66 to integrate existing technologies such as their proprietary credit and loyalty programs into a comprehensive mobile commerce platform, creating a seamless commerce experience for consumers.”

We’re told that Phillips 66 is currently testing mobile commerce connected sites in the Texas and Oklahoma regions, with a nationwide rollout planned for 2017 into 2018.

The post New Mobile Platform Fuels Up appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Visa today announced that Visa Checkout is sustaining tremendous growth, reaching more than 20 million enrolled accounts.

If you’re not familiar, Visa Checkout enables millions of consumers to pay in just a few clicks on any device around the web with some of the world’s top merchants.

“Visa Checkout continues to simplify the online checkout process for consumers, while helping merchants increase sales and convert items in the cart to completed purchases,” says Sam Shrauger, senior vice president, digital solutions, Visa Inc. “Reaching 20 million enrolled accounts is a huge achievement and further affirms Visa Checkout’s purpose of bringing the trust and security of your Visa card to the evolving digital world.”

As consumer adoption of Visa Checkout grows, so too does interest among brand name merchants in joining the platform. Among the merchants who have recently adopted Visa Checkout to improve their online shopping experience in order to increase conversion rates with additional customers include HSN, Alaska Airlines, Avis Budget, Cole Haan, Emirates Airline, FIFA, Marriott, Sam’s Club and Walmart. These new merchants join a growing list of 300,000 merchants, including Best Buy, Starbucks, Papa John’s and StubHub, among others.

“At HSN, we are focused on developing innovative solutions that result in an unparalleled shopping experience,” said Ryan Ross, EVP of Marketing, Digital Commerce and Creative for HSN. “The Visa Checkout integration helped to attract new customers and drive incremental sales across all our platforms as we continue to lead the future of Boundaryless Retail at HSN.”

The post Mobile Milestone Marked By Visa appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The capability to pay with Apple Pay for sending money transfers through the Western Union app in the United Kingdom is planned for later this year.

“Today, 60 percent of all Western Union digital money transfer transactions globally are initiated via a mobile device1,” said Khalid Fellahi, senior vice president and general manager of Western Union Digital. “By bringing Apple Pay as a payment method in the US and later to the UK, Western Union is delivering an exceptional experience across our mobile platform, allowing our customers to conveniently and reliably move money, whenever they please.”

More information about the offering is available from Western Union online.

The post Major Moves in Mobile Money for Western Union appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

As a marketplace where mobile accounts for over $9 billion a quarter in GMV in 2016, eBay will work with Button to scale and integrate partnerships across today’s growing mobile landscape, a provided statement reads.

We’re told that eBay will be launching across a host of Button Publishers including Huffington Post, loyalty publishers such as Ibotta, and others over the next couple of months.

“Mobile commerce is a significant growth driver for us, and partnering with Button will enable more mobile app partners to quickly integrate shopping on eBay into their apps,” stated John Toskey, Director, Global eBay Partner Network. “Button has developed an elegant, high performing solution that solves challenges for both advertisers and publishers, and we are excited to be partnering with their innovative mobile network.”

The post Mobile Payments Leader Pushes the Right ‘Button’ for Retailers appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.