Celent analyst Zil Bareisis reports on what’s next in contactless payments 

Zil Bareisis, head of retail banking and payments at research and advisory firm Celent
BAREISIS: ‘My view is that I think NFC does offer a superior payment experience to QR codes’

Zil Bareisis, head of retail banking and payments at research and advisory firm Celent, has shared his insights into what’s next in contactless payments in a presentation for Contactless World Congress that is now available to view in the NFCW Knowledge Centre.

In the 28-minute presentation, Bareisis provides in-depth insight into the key developments that have transformed and continue to disrupt the card payments ecosystem, including new contactless card form factors, value-added services, issuing business models and payment acceptance innovations.

Two developments in particular are driving expansion of contactless and mobile payments, Bareisis says — the growing use of QR code payments in both developed and developing markets and the rollout of softPOS solutions that make it possible for merchants to accept contactless payments on standard smartphones.

“On the merchant acceptance side, that’s been the tremendous innovation, the actual physical point of sale has changed,” Bareisis explains.

“The whole terminal is almost disappearing, moving into the cloud, enabling new payments, new shopping experiences, whether it’s through biometric payments, virtual augmented reality, virtual reality or, in the case of Amazon stores where it’s more of a check-in rather than checkout. You can walk in and do your shopping and, as you walk out, the payment is taken.”

“My view is that I think NFC does offer a superior payment experience to QR codes,” Bareisis adds.

“And so, particularly with the new solutions, such as tap to phone or soft point-of-sale solutions, they are poised to further expand that contactless market. Every phone now can become a terminal. So all of us can become merchants in theory and start accepting payments.”

A recording of Bareisis’ presentation, along with a copy of his slide deck, is now available in the NFCW Knowledge Centre.

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