Sainsbury’s halts cashierless supermarket pilot
Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has added a manned till and two self-checkout stations to the London store it opened in April as the UK’s first checkout-free supermarket... More
Cashless
Lojas Americanas opens checkout-free automated convenience stores in Brazil
Lojas Americanas, Brazil’s largest retailer, has opened the first of a series of Ame Go convenience stores that use a combination of smart shelf sensors, overhead cameras and QR-enabled entry and exit barriers to remove the need to install physical checkout stations... More
7-Eleven brings mobile self-checkout to New York stores
Shoppers at 7-Eleven stores in New York can now use their mobile phones to self-checkout and pay for their purchases, the convenience store giant has announced. “Mobile Checkout takes convenience to the next level, letting customers in New York City skip the checkout.” More
Visa sets out payments innovation plans for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Visa sets sights on a ‘Cashless Japan’ with one year to go to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — Visa — “At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Visa offered a payment-enabled ring to its Team Visa athletes. At the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Visa commercially sold wearable products, such as gloves and lapel pins, enabled to make payments over contactless payment readers. For Tokyo 2020, Visa is exploring payment innovations ranging from biometric payment authentication and wearables to new mobile applications which will include digitally-issued cards.”
Saudi Arabia combines NFC, QR and faster payments to speed move to cashless society
Saudi Payments, Saudi Arabia’s national payments infrastructure operator, is to use a combination of NFC and contactless payments, a new faster payments system and the introduction of a common QR code platform to reduce the use of cash and speed up its move towards a cashless society, managing director Ziad Al Yousef has told NFCW... More
Ghana to roll out national QR payments platform
Ghana to launch Universal QR Code for payments this year — Republic of Ghana — “This year, there’s going to be also a remarkable introduction into Ghana of a universal QR Code for payments. This will help us move further into the cashless direction because there will be no longer any need for merchants to have point of sales devices with the QR Code platform. All they need is a mobile phone and even a ‘yam phone’ [feature phone] will work.”
Domino’s pilots cashless stores in Australia
Domino’s Is starting to ditch cash payments — Gizmodo Australia — “The pizza maker is calling it ‘Tap & Take’ and is positioning it as a way to make the ordering process both quicker and more convenient… Domino’s has stated that the participating stores will accept ‘all forms of payment’, except for cash. This includes card payments, PayPal, Apple Pay, Android Pay, EFTPOS to door and Instagift.”
Japanese government to reward shoppers for using mobile payments
Hoping to boost spending, Japan tries to sell shoppers on cashless purchases — Reuters — “A scheduled increase in the sales tax to 10% from 8% in October could hurt spending. Aware of that risk, the government is betting big on mobile payments, an industry only just taking root in Japan. As soon as the tax increase kicks in, the government will offer points redeemable for future discounts to shoppers who use QR codes and other cashless payments.”
Maybank lets merchants accept contactless payments on their NFC phones
Maybank aims 10,000 device acceptance for Tap2Phone — The Star Online — “The payment solution enables small businesses to accept card payments from customers via the app on their mobile phones, without the need for a point-of-sale terminal… The Tap2Phone service accepts all contactless payments for transactions of RM250 [US$60.42] and below… Tap2Phone is supported by the latest Android-based smartphones equipped with near-field communication and trusted execution environment technologies.”
POS terminals that support 23 different QR, contactless and NFC payments services roll out in Singapore
Unified cashless payment system rolled out at 500 hawker stalls across Singapore — The Straits Times — “The solution, provided by Nets, unifies payments from 23 providers, so dining customers can use different cashless payment options at a single payment terminal at a food outlet. This also saves hawkers the hassle of dealing with multiple e-payment firms. These include e-wallets like Singtel Dash and GrabPay, transport cards EZ-Link and Nets FlashPay, and credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard.”
India sets out plans for a cash-lite society
RBI publishes ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 — 2021’ — Reserve Bank of India — “The Payment Systems Vision 2021, with its 36 specific action points and 12 specific outcomes, aspires to (a) enhance customer experience, including robust grievance redressal; (b) empower payment system operators and service providers; (c) enable the payments ecosystem and infrastructure; (d) put in place forward-looking regulations; and (e) undertake risk-focused supervision.”
Decathlon opens RFID-enabled store in the US
Sports retailer Decathlon has incorporated RFID tags into products at its first physical store in the US... More
IMF sees negative interest rates in cashless future
Cashing In: How to make negative interest rates work — International Monetary Fund — “In a cashless world, there would be no lower bound on interest rates. A central bank could reduce the policy rate from, say, 2% percent to -4% to counter a severe recession… Without cash, depositors would have to pay the negative interest rate to keep their money with the bank, making consumption and investment more attractive. This would jolt lending, boost demand, and stimulate the economy.”
7-Eleven to open unmanned convenience stores in Japan
7-Eleven opens trial store in Tokyo using facial recognition payment system — The Mainichi — “Convenience store giant Seven-Eleven Japan Co launched a trial 7-Eleven store with a self-checkout system using facial recognition technology here on Dec 17 as it aims to promote labour-saving measures and introduce cashless payments amid concerns of labour shortages… Seven-Eleven Japan Co plans to install the system at small-scale 7-Eleven outlets, such as those inside office buildings, making it the first convenience store chain of its kind in Japan.”
Contactless collection boxes deliver five-fold increase in donations for London charity
Earnest Labs reveals results of contactless charity donation platform Tap for Change — The Drum — “Tap For Change has transformed our fundraising… It would take years to raise the same amount from people emptying their pockets of loose change, and it would require a logistical army to collect and bank those donations. The technology has also allowed us to successfully approach high street partners where customers don’t handle cash, such as travel agents and estate agents. Those partners would have previously been reluctant to host a coin collection box.”
Central bank tightens rules on accepting cards and cash in Chinese stores
As China goes increasingly cashless, PBOC says cash payment is still alive — South China Morning Post — “The central bank in China, the world’s largest mobile payment market, is urging individuals and companies to not refuse or discriminate against cash payment… The PBOC said cash should be accepted alongside the debit card at all business outlets, with the exception of e-commerce and unstaffed stores. Businesses have one month from Friday to make necessary adjustments to avoid being investigated for breaches by the authorities.”
Starbucks to roll out 100 cashless stores in Korea
Starbucks to increase number of cashless stores in Korea — Retail News Asia — “Starbucks Coffee Korea Co said Monday it will increase the number of cashless stores to over 100 across South Korea this month amid rising use of credit cards and mobile payment systems in the tech-savvy country… Starbucks said the decision is part of its broader digital innovation drive as cash payment has been constantly declining at stores in South Korea, from 31% of the total in 2010 to 15% in 2013 and 7% last year.”
Football fans use contactless for one in two transactions at World Cup stadiums
Visa data shows one fifth of purchases at 2018 Fifa World Cup use contactless technology — Visa — “Visa, the official payment services partner of Fifa, today released an analysis of foreign travellers’ spending during opening days of 2018 Fifa World Cup. The results found that in the 11 Russian host cities of the tournament, approximately one in every five (17%) purchases with Visa used contactless payment technology, including smartphones, bracelets and rings. In the stadiums themselves, the share of contactless payments was 54%, inclusive of purchases made by fans from Russia and abroad.”
Tesco pilots ‘Scan Pay Go’ cashless supermarket concept
Tesco trials cashless ‘shop and go’ store at HQ — Essential Retail — “Tesco staff are trialling a completely cashless store at the grocer’s headquarters in Welwyn Garden City, including ‘shop and go’ technology similar to that used in the Amazon Go store in Seattle… The technology allows customers to scan and pay for their products via their smartphone before walking out of the store without visiting a traditional till point.”
Shake Shack rolls back its cashless store plans
Shake Shack first quarter 2018 earnings call — Shake Shack — “Some of the things we’ve clearly seen is that our guests do often want to pay with cash. In the first rollout at Astor Place, we did not accept cash at all. And there are people who have told us very clearly, ‘We want to pay with cash’. So in this next phase, we’re going to go ahead and have cashiers as well as kiosks.”
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