How 'NFC' and Mobile Wallets Will Change the Way Retailers Do BusinessWhat business owners need to know about these developing technologies.
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You've probably seen the acronym NFC but might not be clear about what it is and why there's beenso much hullabalooabout it. NFC stands for near field communications -- a secure radiotechnologythat enables two devices to wirelessly trade data when they are within about five centimeters of each other.
One example of NFC is theChase Blinkcredit card, which includes an NFC chip and enables users to wave their cards in front of an NFC-enabled point-of-sale terminal instead of having to swipe it.
For many businesses, the goal is to use NFC to turn smartphones into "mobilewallets," meaning you would need only yoursmartphone, not your credit card, to make payments. Some of the major credit card companies, banks and cellular carriers have created an international mobile wallet standards consortium calledIsis. Similarly, Google has developed its own set of mobile wallet standards, calledGoogle Wallet.
U.K.-based telecommunications research firm Juniper Research has predictedNFC-enabled payments will total $180 billionby 2017. But this number just begins to illustrate the paradigm-shifting changes at retail NFC can bring.
Here's what business owners need to know about NFC:
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You will be able to create your own business-specific mobile wallet.
A business-specific virtual credit card app could include a loyalty program, coupons, special sales or other marketing programs, and it could connect to your customer relationship management (CRM) or inventory management system.
BothGoogleandIsisprovide services to help merchants create their own virtual credit cards,as does MasterCard. But the virtual wallet ecosystem is still in vitro, so many details are still being determined.
NFC means more than a mobile wallet.
The popular depiction of NFC is a consumer waving a mobile phone over a point-of-sale terminal to pay for goods. But virtual wallet implies a wider "anywhere" application not limited to NFC-specific in-store purchases, says Brad Greene, senior business leader at Visa.
While other wireless communications technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS can transmit location-based in-store marketing messages, these are shotgun approaches that often deliver unwanted information. NFC, on the other hand, can capture consumer intent more reliably. The consumer has to wave his or her phone within a few centimeters of an NFC tag to receive a marketing message, such as special sales discounts or the location of related items.
A store-specific retail wallet app or virtual credit card also can enable clerk-free shopping. Consumers could wave their NFC-enabled phone over postage stamp-sized shelf tags (less than $1 each) and place the selected product into both their physical and virtual shopping carts. When consumers complete shopping, they tap the payment option on the mobile wallet's virtual shopping cart to check out. With one tap, they also can ask a retailer to deliver their purchases because the wallet app contains their home address.
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Credit card companies are pushing retail terminals.
Both Visa and MasterCard are taking steps to encourage retailers to install NFC POS payment terminal readers that can accept standard mag stripe swipes, NFC and new chip-based cards.
Visa's Technology Innovation Program (TIP) eliminates the need for merchants to recertify their payment terminals every year and removes any fraud liability when they install a fully compliant terminal. MasterCard, meanwhile, sometimes offers incentives or subsidies in exchange for accepting its PayPass service.
While credit card companies can encourage you to upgrade to a new NFC terminal, you'll have to make the arrangements yourself with one of the payment terminal vendors such asVerifone.
More NFC phones are coming.
Only a handful of Android phones from Samsung, Nokia and BlackBerry contain NFC capabilities. But even without NFC, 16 percent of all smartphone owners use their phones to assist in their shopping, according to New York City-based GfK Custom Research. This figure is double for shoppers aged 18 to 34.
The number ofphones with NFC capabilities will rise46%,到2016年,据位于达拉斯的复位arch firm Markets and Markets. As more phone makers include NFC in their devices, consumers will become more familiar with the technology, which could create a snowball effect. Developers are already beginning to create NFC apps, which in turn could encourage businesses to create more NFC-enabled functions, such as NFC transit passes, hotel room keys and movie tickets.
It's all about consolidating consumer data.
为什么谷歌、移动电话运营商、金融吗nstitutions and credit card companies all working to implement NFC? It isn't just about giving consumers another way to pay for goods and services. It's just as much about consolidating, cloud storing and authenticating consumer purchase data -- such as credit card numbers, phone numbers and shipping and billing addresses -- for easier access.
For example, Google wants this consolidated consumer data to better target its advertising across its various online entities. And Visa's PayWaveV.me wallet serviceand MasterCard'sPayPasslet consumers single-click or tap one of these icons to pay for merchandise on a retailer's website from PCs and smartphones -- all instead of filling out long and tedious bill-to or ship-to forms.
