Tag: Android Pay

PayPal Joins Forces With Android Pay To Expand Retail Reach

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Tuesday, PayPal announced that it is teaming up with Google’s mobile payments platform Android Pay to expand its footprint both within mobile applications as well as at brick-and-mortar retailers. The partnership will allow PayPal users in the U.S. to activate their PayPal accounts in Android Pay and use it online, in apps, and in physical stores. This means Android users will soon be able to pay via PayPal for things like Uber as well as at retail partners such as Walgreens, Dunkin Donuts, and Subway.

What Brands Need To Do
As one of the most popular digital wallet services in the world, PayPal boasts nearly 200 million active customer accounts and about 15 million active merchant accounts. This partnership should further help expand the mobile usage of PayPal via Android Pay, as it offers a workaround to users who are hesitant to link up their credit or debit cards to mobile payments due to privacy or security concerns. For brands, the continued expansion of mobile payment will continue to simply the ecommerce and in-store check-out experience while also providing brands, particularly retailers, with a chance to integrate their loyalty programs into the process.

 

Source: Engadget

Android Pay Now Supports More Websites With Visa & Mastercard Integration

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Android users can now use Android Pay to complete purchases on “hundreds of thousands” of websites thanks to partnerships that Google struck with Visa and Mastercard. Any website that currently accepts Visa Checkout or Masterpass will now also support Android Pay, offering users a seamless checkout experience on the mobile web.

What Brands Should Do
Similar to the way Apple rolled out Apple Pay to the mobile web earlier this year, this extension of Android Pay should greatly benefit brands that sell directly on their websites. A recent study shows that smartphones now account for nearly half of all traffic to ecommerce sites, yet they only make up about 10% of sales. One big reason for this discrepancy is the friction caused by the manual input of payment information, and supporting mobile payment can eliminate some friction in online shopping and reduce shopping cart abandonment. Therefore, brands should be proactive when it comes to adding support for mobile payment to their sites so as to provide a better shopper experience.

For more information on how brands can modernize their user experiences to better engage with mobile shoppers, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Engadget

Walgreens Integrates Loyalty Program Into Android Pay

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Walgreens has become the first retailer to fully integrate its loyalty program into Android Pay with NFC support, aiming to speed up the check-out process for Android users. Once the loyalty card is added to Android Pay, Walgreens shoppers only need to tap their phone once at check-out to get their Balance Rewards points, eliminating the need to manually scan their membership card.

In terms of support for loyalty programs, Android Pay is just catching up to Apple Pay, which has supported loyalty card integration since the launch of iOS 9 in late 2015. In fact, Walgreens was also the first U.S. retailer to integrate its loyalty program with Apple Pay. Earlier this summer Walgreens started testing digital coupon integration in Apple Pay to help customers save.

What Brands Need To Do
As it expands loyalty card support to Android Pay, Walgreens is making its check-out experience more convenient for more shoppers. Other retailers need to take a cue and start making their loyalty programs more accessible across platforms.

To learn more about how brands can leverage digital tools to fully engage customers across sales channels, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: 9to5 Google

Mobile Payment Expands For Android And Samsung Users

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google and Samsung continue the push for mobile payments as both companies announced new expansions for their respective payment systems. After revealing that Android Pay will be integrated into Android Instant Apps yesterday, Google announced it now allows Bank of America customers to use the bank’s ATMs with their phones via Android Pay. The search giant is also working on integrating Android Pay into its Chrome web browser to make it easier to pay online. Samsung Pay, on the other hand, now supports membership and loyalty cards in the U.S., allowing users to receive promotions and other value offers right on their Galaxy smartphones.

What Brands Need To Do
As mobile payments continue to mature and expand, retailers should take the initiative to incorporate them into their retail experience to offer shoppers frictionless check-out. They should also incorporate existing reward and loyalty programs into point of sale systems to make sure that customers can apply the value offers they received. Banking services, on the other hand, should consider further integrating their services into various mobile payment systems to better serve their customers.

 

Source: TechCrunch & CNet

Google Officially Started Rolling Out Android Pay

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google has officially started rolling out its Apple Pay-competitor Android Pay at over one million locations across the US. First announced in May, Android Pay supports NFC-enabled contactless payment, in addition to storing reward cards and gift cards. Just like Apple Pay, it will be integrated as a payment option in some Android apps, including Chipotle, Etsy, and Groupon. Google has also updated its Wallet app to focus on peer-to-peer payment transfers.

What Brands Should Do
Given Android’s over 1 billion active users worldwide, this may be just what Google needs to catch up with Apple in mobile payments. With more and more consumers starting to incorporate their mobile devices into their shopping experience, brands seeking stay ahead of the digital curve need to start developing a digital payment strategy and incorporating existing reward and loyalty programs into point of sale systems.

 

Source: Re/code