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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

We can expect a generational shift in the physical store Whether it is an iPhone or Android smartphone, pur-
formats, triggered by the Coronavirus, forcing retailers chases on the Internet or in brick-and-mortar stores are
to align their operations with wider industry shifts and processing NFC registers and transfer to other mobile
make robust ‘in-store tech investments’ to match con- phone numbers is possible as well, just like paying via
sumers’ demand. Today’s consumers appreciate direct app and barcode scanner or with a customer card. But
purchasing options due to authenticity and price con- what’s best, fraudulent activities, such as identity theft,
cerns. Therefore, e-commerce retailers/marketplaces are harder to initiate with mobile wallets. While a user’s
must integrate technologies driven initiatives on their credit card can easily be stolen or duplicated,
websites to improve the customers’ shopping journey smartphones are not that easy to steal. A smartphone
and avoid order returns. that is stolen may be hard to access if there is an ac-
cess password or fingerprint check installed. Mobile
Safety is top priority wallets may also have encrypted keys. Not to mention

that mobile wallets are useful for retail businesses that
Combined with the corresponding features, the mobile experience high volumes of transactions per day by
wallet of the future will be more than just a wallet. Im- reducing wait and payment times. This is a win-win for
portant, however, is to highlight that sophisticated secu- both the customers and the business.
rity mechanisms should be the top priority for m-
payment solutions, e.g., with an authentication key that But the main reason for the triumphal procession of
works like the fingerprint reader on notebooks, so that mobile payment methods is convenience: the smart
the critical part of the communication path is secured device is usually with you when you shop and quickly
via NFC. picked up to pay. Which brings us to the second most
obvious reason for the hype – the time saved. That is
By using mobile technology such as smartphones, tab- why mobile payment is spreading more and more in
lets or smartwatches, companies and users are adapt- retail and is becoming more popular as a result.
ing to online and offline transactions using devices.
When a user makes a payment to a merchant, the mo- Mobile payment is easy and convenient for consumers,
bile app uses NFC that uses radio frequencies to com- but to keep it safe, the smartphone should certainly
municate between devices and makes use of the per- always be comprehensively secured. This includes the
sonal identification format created for the user to com- installation of a security solution and all updates provid-
municate the payment information to the merchant’s ed for the apps and the operating system. Then nothing
point-of-service (POS) terminal. The information trans- stands in the way of untroubled shopping fun. ◊
fer is usually triggered when the user waves or holds
an NFC-enabled mobile device over the store’s NFC By Daniela La Marca
reader.

14 July 2021: Mobile Marketing & Analytics