M-payment: US Retailers Developing their Own Solution
- According to persisting rumours passed on by the Wall Street Journal, about two dozen US retailers, including giants like Wal-Mart and Target, are currently developing their own m-payment system.
- These retailers would then challenge other players already positioned on this sector: card networks, banks, mobile carriers, developers, etc.
- Only few details have filtered: characteristics, technology/ies, deployment period and even the identity of the partakers have not officially been disclosed.
- Large merchants, like banking players and other telecom operators, are now trying to increase their mobile profits through developing a solution adapted to their own needs for large-scale use. Dissatisfied with the cost of card acceptance, these players may see this initiative as a means to remedy the situation, regain control and secure their payment ecosystem.
- Even if the increasing number of m-payment solutions, as they appear, might cause some doubts on the customers’ side. Retailers, in direct contact with their customers may dispose of a competitive advantage (to face Google, ISIS, etc.): repeated interactions in the physical world may be likely to carter for the development of the m-payment sector in general.