Some 11% of US retailers have already integrated a loyalty program into a mobile payment app, while 40% plan to do so within the next two years and 20% in three to five years, research from Boston Retail Partners reveals... More
Loyalty
SIX and Swisscom partner with banks for national mobile payments service
Switzerland’s financial infrastructure operator SIX and telecommunications provider Swisscom have partnered with a number of banks in the country to establish a nationwide mobile payments service that would enable consumers to make in-store mobile payments at retail locations using either NFC, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or a combination of both, SIX has told NFC World... More
GlobalPlatform discovery specification eases NFC roaming
Standards body GlobalPlatform has published a new specification that enables an NFC system to discover the application protocols that are supported by a second NFC system... More
Amex cardholders use reward points for Best Buy purchases
American Express card members in the Membership Rewards program can now use points to pay for online purchases at US retail giant Best Buy... More
Commonwealth Bank adds loyalty to mobile app
Commonwealth Bank has added a loyalty feature to its mobile banking app that also offers HCE payments, allowing users to store loyalty cards and redeem them at the checkout with their NFC phone or by scanning the loyalty card barcode... More
HKT launches NFC mobile payments service in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) subsidiary HKT Payment has launched a SIM-based NFC mobile payment service to let customers of its 1010 and Csl mobile service brands pay at more than three million locations worldwide which accept MasterCard PayPass, using funds stored in their Tap & Go mobile wallet account... More
US shoppers buying into mobile payments
Almost one in five US consumers (18%) have used a mobile device to make either an in-store or online purchase, up from 16% in 2014 and 12% in 2013, research from Synchrony Financial reveals, based on nearly 7,000 Synchrony Bank cardholders and shoppers nationwide... More
One in five Starbucks sales in the US made with mobile payments
Coffee chain Starbucks is processing nearly nine million mobile payments a week across its US locations, representing 20% of all in-store transactions, CEO Howard Schultz revealed during the company’s third quarter earnings call... More
Semble adds Snapper public transport payments to mobile wallet
Users of New Zealand’s NFC mobile wallet Semble will be able to pay for public transport using the app through a partnership with prepaid transit card provider Snapper... More
“Highly interested” Canadians ready for mobile payments
Some 14% of Canadian consumers say they are highly interested in making in-store mobile payments and 11% are also interested in using a wearable device such as a smartwatch to do so, research from payment services supplier Tsys has revealed... More
Rémy Martin to launch NFC bottle in China for authentication and rewards
French spirits brand Rémy Martin is to launch a connected cognac bottle equipped with an NFC tag that will let consumers check the product is authentic and whether it has been opened and resealed, as well as allowing them to retrieve rewards and special offers after it has been purchased. More
Canadian carriers sign up for independent Suretap platform
Canadian carrier Rogers has spun off its Suretap NFC mobile wallet service as a separate company, with the brand now operating independently and open to other carriers... More
Crunchfish unveils touchless storefront using gesture recognition
Swedish gesture recognition firm Crunchfish has developed an interactive screen that can be placed in shop windows to encourage passersby to browse deals, read reviews and compare products with a swipe, push or grab of their hand... More
Spanish supermarket chain Bonpreu rolls out mobile payments to 170 stores
Spanish supermarket chain Bonpreu is to roll out a mobile payments service to 170 stores, using a platform developed by Dinube that combines proprietary tokenization algorithms, NFC and biometric fingerprint security... More
Almost one in ten have made in-store mobile wallet payments
Some 8% of global mobile users have made an in-store mobile wallet payment either using NFC or via an app in the last six months, research from trade body Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) and Wirecard has revealed... More
Google to acquire Tesco’s Clubcard division?
Google is reported to be considering acquiring the Tesco-owned loyalty agency that is responsible for the development of the supermarket giant’s Clubcard rewards scheme... More
Almost one in six US consumers are using mobile wallets
Almost one in six US consumers (15%) have used a mobile wallet in the past six months, up from 9% in the same period in 2013, and an additional 22% are likely to adopt mobile wallet functionality in the coming six months, a study released by market research and consulting firm Chadwick Martin Bailey has found... More
UAE banks approve mobile wallet project
The UAE Banks Federation, a standards body representing 50 Emirates banks, has cleared its mobile wallet project for launch and is now awaiting final approval from the nation’s central bank following a pre-implementation phase completed in December... More
MasterCard extends tokenization platform
MasterCard is to extend its tokenization services to merchants with in-app, ecommerce and recurring billing card-on-file programs as well as to private label credit cards... More
Verifone to support Apple Pay loyalty schemes
Payments giant Verifone will support retailer loyalty and rewards programs, in addition to NFC mobile payments, via Apple Pay from the autumn with the release of iOS 9... More