Many people across the industry have been excited about the prospects for mobile and contactless payments for some time now – myself included. The step to mass adoption of new technology though requires more than this. To catch the public’s imagination, awareness and indeed to garner enough interest for widespread use, it has a lot of impact when well known merchants and locations that people see in the high street or mall and buy from every day start to offer and promote new ways of paying.
This is what has happened in the last few days.
First we had Starbucks. The Starbucks Card Mobile App is now available at its 6,800 U.S. company-operated Starbucks, and all U.S. Target stores. Extensive rollout here. Just scan your phone and go with your coffee – it’s promoted as the fastest way to pay. Excellent move and my guess is that in future assuming it goes well we’ll see apps for other smartphones to add to BlackBerry and iPhone.
Next comes McDonalds, who have announced that contactless card payments will be offered in all of its 1,200 UK restaurants by this summer, working with Visa. Oh, and, wait for it – the company is emphasising speed – McDonalds prefaces “contactless” by labelling it “lightning fast”. McDonalds explains that “Contactless payment saves time and effort, allowing customers to quickly pay for items which cost £15 or under without having to search around for cash.”
Whilst customer convenience is one of the key benefits, there are more benefits too. Reduced queues or lines for example. How many times have we walked up to a fast food or drink outlet, seen eight people waiting, and moved on? So moves like this reduce customer loss and increase customer throughput. They also mean less cash is handled by the merchants – with attendant risks of errors in counting, theft, mistakes in giving change and slower transaction speeds.
Yes folks, this is why we’re forecasting a big future for mobile payments with nearly 1 in 2 of us having made a mobile payment of one sort or another by 2014. With iconic fast food and drink brands like Starbucks and McDonalds leading the way, we’re sure to see more launches in the future. After all, 2011 has only just begun…..
Tags: contactless, McDonalds, mobile payment, Starbucks
These efforts are fantastic news, but also is pointing in a disappointing direction. I don’t want a situation created where I need tenths of apps to make payments. But it also points in a direction of evidence that the major players are slow and unwilling in driving the matter. My hopes go to PayPal. They are in a position to be a major leader in the arena, and has shown interest in driving the topic in the right direction. But they need to get out of the web metaphor and make true mobile payments, contactless payments that doesn’t involve a lot of clicking and logging in and that is truly versatile when it comes to implementation in different environments and countries.
Hi Michael
Thanks for your comment. The use case for mobile is all about making it easier and more convenient for people. PayPal, by the way, has launched its Mobile Check Out for payments and yes I agree with your comment.
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