NFC Times Exclusive: Transactions increased significantly for several merchants trialing a QR-code-based mobile-payment app from Barclaycard US when the merchants added offers, though overall take-up of the bPay app has been modest, according to interviews with merchants conducted by NFC Times.
Barclaycard US, the small U.S.-based credit card-affiliate of UK-based Barclays, launched the trial of the Barclaycard Mobile Wallet pilot, now called bPay, last year, and it is available on both Android and iOS phones with about 50 small merchants in Newark, Delaware, and nearby Wilmington, near the company’s U.S. headquarters. It enables users to pay and redeem discounts and other offers by scanning a QR code with their smartphones. They can load their credit and debit cards into the bPay app for cloud-based transactions.
The bPay trial took on some added significance since July, when the MCX merchant consortium in the U.S. hired Dekkers Davidson as its new CEO. Davidson launched the pilot as head of mobile commerce at Barclaycard US in 2012, and bPay could offer a glimpse into some of the services or technology MCX might introduce when it launches its mobile-payment and wallet platforms.
In this article:
Words: 2,800
Graphics:
•Table and chart, bPay merchants see more transactions with offers
•Table, merchant survey results and comments
Among Topics Covered:
•Barclaycard US bPay mobile-commerce trial, merchant survey results
•Bpay trial and significance for planned MCX mobile-commerce service.
•QR codes–possible challenge to NFC
•QR codes–transaction time, security, connectivity issues
Sources quoted:
Amy Romagnoli, head of mobile commerce business development, Barclaycard US
Several bPay merchants
Among companies mentioned:
Barclaycard US
MCX
Starbucks
Chunghwa Telecom
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