PARTNER NEWS: An RFID expert at NXP has explained how UHF RFID and NFC will be key building blocks in bringing about retail’s autonomous future in an article on the company’s website... More
NXP spells out NFC’s role in automated stores
Retail
Aeon to identify customers with face recognition at 80 self-serve stores
Aeon to use facial recognition at 80 China self-serve stores — Nikkei Asian Review — “Aeon, Japan’s largest retailer by sales, will soon debut a chain of self-serve smart stores in China that can anticipate what a customer will buy upon entering the establishment… Facial recognition technology installed in the stores will identify shoppers. Customers’ smartphones will then display recommended items and coupons based on purchasing habits and digital payment history.”
Sainsbury’s: Mobile self-checkout drives higher shopper spending
Behind Sainsbury’s in-store Mobile Pay solution — Essential Retail — “We have an average basket spend in store and we were expecting it to be slightly lower than that, but actually it’s coming out higher… If they go into store and see a queue, they want to be quick and grab two things to get into the queue as quickly as possible. But now they take their time and buy three or four things.”
Stance lets customers use their phones to self checkout anywhere in store
Specialist sock retailer Stance is enabling customers to pay for products on their mobile phones from anywhere in its stores — without them having to visit a physical checkout desk, talk with a shop assistant or download an app... More
Walmart to let customers shop for groceries with their voice
Want Walmart to help you grocery shop? With our new voice capabilities, just say the word — Walmart — “Beginning this month, customers can say: ‘Hey Google, talk to Walmart’ and the Google Assistant will add items directly to their Walmart Grocery cart. Best of all, customers can be extra confident that we can quickly and accurately identify the items they are asking for with the help of information from their prior purchases with us. The more you use it, the better we’ll get.”
Amazon Pay begins in-store payments rollout in India
Amazon Pay makes an offline push with ‘scan and pay’ service — Livemint — “We have begun introducing Amazon SmileCode, a new way for our customers to shop and pay at physical stores like Shoppers Stop, among others,” said an Amazon spokesperson. “Customers will soon find Amazon SmileCodes in neighbourhood retail stores, where they can scan and pay for their purchases seamlessly.”
WeChat Pay reports 500% increase in transaction volumes
WeChat Pay supports merchants expanding businesses by bringing its ecosystem to the world — WeChat Pay — “In 2018, the monthly average transaction volume saw an increase of 500% year on year, while the total transaction value increased 400%. Meanwhile, the number of service providers witnessed a year-on-year increase [of] 300%, and the number of merchants accepting WeChat Pay increased 700%. WeChat Pay is now available in 49 markets outside of the Chinese mainland, supporting cross-border payment transactions in 16 currencies.”
Mammut uses NFC to create next generation customer experiences for outdoor sports fans
Swiss mountain sports equipment brand Mammut has launched a mobile app that uses NFC to support retailers that stock its products and provide “a new way of bringing emotional and interactive product information to the consumer”... More
Decathlon adds RFID tags to make in-store self-checkout easier for customers
Sports retailer Decathlon is using a combination of RFID tags and mobile payments to enable customers to use self-checkout kiosks at its newest store in Singapore without needing to scan the barcodes on the items they have placed in their shopping basket... More
Carrefour tests biometric payments at point of sale
Carrefour has begun testing a biometric payments system at its Skanska supermarket in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest, the supermarket giant has announced... More
UK Finance reports 31% rise in contactless transactions
Contactless card use surges as doubts ease — BBC News — “The number of transactions using contactless rose by 31% in 2018 compared with the previous year, banking trade body UK Finance data shows. Adoption of this technology on public transport and by more retailers has led, in part, to the rise.”
Snapchat opens empty shop that lets customers buy Lego clothing in AR
Snapchat is using AR to transform an empty shop into a pop-up Lego Wear Store — Evening Standard — “When you enter the store, you need to scan a Snapcode on the photo-sharing app, which uses augmented reality (AR) technology to showcase the clothes and in-store displays… Prospective buyers can purchase clothing through the integrated ‘shop now’ feature on Snapchat. This takes them through to the Lego Wear e-commerce site where they can select their preferred item and have it delivered to their home.”
Lloyds Bank to pay retailers to offer cash withdrawals to customers
Lloyds Banking Group announces pilot scheme to boost the number of retailers offering cashback — Lloyds Banking Group — “There are tens of thousands of local high street shops which have the infrastructure in place to offer a cashback service but may not see it as a viable option — especially without a purchase — as they do not receive a fee for providing cashback… We need to make it more viable for them [to] offer cashback to all customers, whether making a purchase or not.”
Barclays links retail loyalty programmes to payments cards
Barclays is rolling out a service which will enable customers to collect points from different retailers’ loyalty schemes when they pay with their Barclays bank card... More
Apple reports growth in US Apple Pay acceptance
Apple Pay coming to Target, Taco Bell and more top US retail locations — Apple — “Target, Taco Bell, Hy-Vee supermarkets in the Midwest, Speedway convenience stores and Jack in the Box are the latest merchants to support Apple Pay… With the addition of these national retailers, 74 of the top 100 merchants in the US and 65% of all retail locations across the country will support Apple Pay.”
NXP showcases the future of retail at CES 2019
PARTNER NEWS: NXP is showing off its vision of the future of retail at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with an unmanned store exhibit that demonstrates new interactive and personalised shopping experiences. More
SiriusXM to offer Visa in-car payments to US auto makers
Visa and SiriusXM team up to fast track the future of in-vehicle commerce — Sirius XM Holdings — “The SiriusXM e-wallet is being designed to integrate into the dashboard and will allow drivers and their passengers to complete and make purchases for everyday tasks on-the-go: shop and pay for coffee, find and pre-pay for gas, locate and pay for parking, purchase movie tickets, seamlessly pay tolls, and more. Users will activate and authenticate payment with their Visa account using biometric authentication, like voice and touchscreen commands, to eliminate driver distractions during the transaction.”
JCB begins EMV QR mobile payments rollout
JCB launches QR code payment in the Asian region — JCB — “Bank SinoPac in Taiwan and Sacombank in Vietnam became the first banks to offer the JCB QR Code Payment service. SinoPac will start the service full scale at merchants who used to accept only cash such as fish markets, flower markets and taxis in January 2019… Sacombank has just announced its new mobile banking app ‘Sacombank Pay’, for which their JCB cardmember can choose JCB Card as a source of funds.”
Tencent connects car registrations to WeChat Pay for pay-by-plate parking at 1,000 Chinese shopping malls
WeChat Pay launches auto scan-and-pay for parking in China’s shopping malls — South China Morning Post — “To be part of this system, car owners must register their plate numbers under their WeChat Pay accounts. Their plates are scanned by specially set-up cameras located at the exit points of car parking sites. The artificial intelligence-based system automatically matches the captured image of the plate number with a database of WeChat Pay users to determine the corresponding account and settle the parking fees.”
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.”