Tag: Visa

SXSW 2017: Visa Puts An NFC Payment Chip On A Pair Of Sunglasses

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Visa has been experimenting with mobile and IoT payments for a while now, previously launching a digital commerce app and collaborating with Brita to built payment into water filters. Today at SXSW, the credit card company showcased its latest creation – a pair of sunglasses with an NFC chip built into the frame. Once linked with a Visa user profile, it can replace plastic cards to complete purchases at NFC-equipped terminals. Visa says it is scouting for a fashion eyewear brand to collaborate on turning this prototype into a viable product.

What Brands Need To Do
While it is highly debatable whether it is a good idea to integrate a credit card chip with easily misplaced items like sunglasses, this prototype points to a future where ordinary devices and objects can become connected via 5G, Bluetooth, or other proximity technologies, and thus able to perform tasks and complete transactions. In fact, Visa has already inked a partnership with IBM to plug Watson’s machine learning smarts into its payment solutions for connected devices.

Imagine a future when your connected home appliances can search for local handyman services when it detects a repairing need, or when your smart fridge automatically order milk from local grocery stores when you’re running low. That future of IoT-powered ecommerce may seem far from us now, but it is an inevitable future that all brands need to start strategizing for. By expanding their messaging to connected devices, brands can establish a consistent presence guiding consumer throughout their customer journey.

Source: Engadget

IBM Partners With Visa To Make Its Waston IoT Platform Commerce-Ready

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
IBM will equip its Watson IoT platform with Visa’s token technology to allow trusted connected devices to complete online orders for users within preconfigured permissions. This partnership will allow IBM to integrate Visa’s token service, which assigns a unique digital identifier to information found on payment cards, with connected devices that are plugged into IBM’s cloud infrastructure. The end result is a lot like Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service (DRS), only replacing the need for a physical push to trigger the purchases with automation enabled by IBM’s cloud computing and Watson’s A.I. smarts.

What Brands Need To Do
While this partnership hasn’t developed any consumer-facing product yet, both companies see new business models emerging from the inspection of IoT and ecommerce. For example, a retailer can leverage this platform to manage their in-store stocks and optimizing the restocking process. CPG brands, on the other hand, could explore the possibility of leveraging this new platform to bring auto-replenishing packages into consumers’ homes. As A.I.-powered solutions start to percolate into a wide range of devices and platforms, brands will need to pay attention to the new possibility in automation and personalization they are set to unleash across industries.

 

Source: ZDNet

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

Uber And Visa Team Up For Rewards Program

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Visa is expanding its existing partnership with Uber to drive customer loyalty through a new rewards program called Uber Local Offers. Starting this week, Visa cardholders in San Francisco and Los Angeles can earn points toward discounted Uber rides when they use their Visa cards at select local businesses such as Barcito, Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ, and Peet’s Coffee. They will earn one point for each $1 spent at an enrolled merchant—100 points lead to a $10 Uber discount.

What Brands Need To Do
This is not the first time Uber has tried to incorporate brands into rides. Last January, the company launched “Trip Experiences” to allow third-party apps to serve up notifications and content via Uber’s app to keep riders entertained during their trips. As Uber officially start rolling out its Local Offers program, brands should consider joining this rewards program to reach Uber’s urban and affluent users and leverage its booming popularity to build customer loyalty.

 

Source: AdAge

 

Brita and Visa Tap Into Auto-Refill Services

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Following the likes of Whirlpool and Samsung, two more brands are tapping into the power of auto-refill services to facilitate repeat purchases and remove friction in reordering. Taking a cue from Samsung’s new printers, Brita introduced a WiFi-connected smart pitcher that is integrated with Amazon’s Dash Replenishment service and can automatically reorder replacement filters when 40 gallons of water have passed through the one currently in use. Similarly, credit card company Visa is looking into integrating its payment app into the dashboard of connected cars so that it can alert consumers when their gas tank is low, while allowing them to pay for gas right from the dashboard.

What Brands Need To Do
Automatic replenishment is a great tool for brands to develop and maintain consumer loyalty. With the popularization of connected devices and vehicles, we expect to see more integrations like these two examples pop up in the near future. For brands looking to cultivate a long-term relationship with consumers, this is definitely something worth a shot.

For more on how retailers and CPG brands can better build relationships with consumers through multiple touchpoints and channels, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Sources: The Verge & AdWeek

Pizza Hut To Let You Order And Pay For Pizza With Your Car

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: VentureBeat

Pizza Hut, along with Visa and Accenture, announced at Mobile World Congress that they are working together to explore mobile and on-the-road purchases in connected cars. The trial plans to include a new Interactive Voice Control (IVR) feature that will let you talk to your car to place your order, while Visa Checkout, Visa’s online payment service, will let users make in-car payments seamlessly. Moreover, beacon technology will also be deployed at Pizza Hut restaurants to alert staff when the customer has arrived and is ready to pick up the order. If this works, the drive-thru of the future will be very efficient.

Update 3/5/2015: Not to be outdone, Domino’s is developing an ordering app on wearables to allow customers to place pizza orders from their Android Wear and Pebble smartwatches.

How Credit Card Companies Are Enhancing Payment Security

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: WSJ

Major credit card companies are finally stepping up their game in payment security: Visa is reportedly expanding tokenization to devices beyond iOS ones, and MasterCard plans to spend $20 million on developing biometrics and fingerprint matching to strengthen its mobile payment security.

As mobile payments begin to gain traction, mobile devices now reportedly make up a disproportionate share of up 21 percent of all fraud costs that merchants and card issuers suffered each year. Amid such high fraud concerns, it’s only sensible for credit card companies to beef up their security measures.

Twitter Video Hashtags Add Media

Posted on by Lab Team

As the World Cup starts up, Twitter is looking to cash in on the several different advertising campaigns that are being promoted across its social network. To do this, Twitter has partnered with Visa and Adidas to experiment with video hashtaging. The user simply writes in a hashtag, say #allin for Adidas, and a video is automatically embedded into the tweet. It gives Twitter another monetization stream, and allows advertisers to continue to think outside of the box for social media campaigns. 

Foursquare Partners With Visa And Mastercard

Posted on by Lab Team

In a similar partnership to AMEX, Visa and Mastercard have teamed up with Foursquare to deliver check-in discounts applied directly to cardholders accounts. The recent deal benefits brands by offering easy redemption while generating buzz on the social platform. The move also creates a unique revenue stream for Foursquare who will be earning a fee for every transaction.

New Fees in the Future For Credit Card Users

Posted on by Lab Team

An anti-trust suit from 2005 has finally been settled between merchants, credit card companies, and banks to allow retailers in 40 US states to add surcharges on credit card purchases.  These fees are still illegal in California, New York, Texas, and seven other states.  The fees are optional for retailers, and there will be no fee on debit card purchases, but if you often pull out the plastic, that 1% cash back might not be worth it much longer.