"mPayment is still in its infancy".

Tobias Wirth, Senior Manager Digital Products of the Aduno Group, is a founding/board member of smama (swiss mobile association) and head of smama's mPayment and mCommerce specialist group. He has twelve years of experience in the development and marketing of mServices.FROM RUEDI ULMANNMK Where does mPayment stand today?TOBIAS WIRTH mPayment is still in its infancy. Currently, the focus is primarily on in-store mPayment, i.e., paying with a smartphone at the checkout. The topic is mainly driven by PayPal. PayPal has been able to establish itself in the e-commerce sector and is now trying to spread to the physical POS (point of sales) via mPayment. At the same time, mPayment is also seen as an interesting new business model by the large telcos and credit card organizations. At present, however, no mPayment solution for in-store payments has been able to establish itself.MK What do you expect in two or three years?WIRTH There will be more retailers with their own mWallets with integrated payment function. At the same time, the first mPayment offerings from banks and credit card issuers will come onto the market. Since the solutions of the various market players differ fundamentally in terms of technology, it will be interesting to see which one experiences the greatest customer acceptance. Banks and credit card organizations are already using contactless technology via NFC (Near Field Communication). There are two million credit cards with this technology alone in circulation. This technology is also supported by Migros and many other retailers in Switzerland.MK How does the use of NFC technology differ from other solutions?WIRTH The great advantage of NFC is its ease of use at the POS. It is sufficient to hold the smartphone up to the payment terminal for a second in order to pay. In contrast, the solutions of retailers or many startups rely on scanning technology via QR code, whereby a QR code must first be generated via the mPayment app, which is then scanned by the cashier so that payment can be made.MK What additional benefits does mPayment bring for retailers & customers, besides the financial transaction?WIRTH The biggest advantage of mPayment is the simplicity and speed with which payments can be made in the future. Furthermore, an mPayment app offers interesting additional functions such as a transaction overview, which provides the customer with more transparency and thus security as well as cost control. At the same time, context-related personalized advertising or discount vouchers can also be displayed via an app. This opens up an interesting new digital marketing channel for merchants.MK What about acceptance factors such as safety, standardization and ease of handling by end customers?WIRTH Various market research studies have found that consumers have security concerns regarding mPayment. However, these concerns relate primarily to the smartphone and not to the payment method stored on it. Security must be technically ensured accordingly. The second most important acceptance criterion is the simplicity and speed with which payment can be made.MK What does it take to convince retailers of the benefits of mPayment solutions?WIRTH For retailers, the focus is on costs and speed at checkout. In terms of costs, this means that retailers have already invested heavily in the payment infrastructure in the form of payment terminals and checkouts in the past. Thus, a basic requirement is that the new mPayment solution is compatible with the existing infrastructure and that no new technical infrastructure needs to be purchased. Furthermore, the new mPayment solution must function faster and be easier to use than the current means of payment, so that the check-out process can also be effectively accelerated in a measurable way.MK A big topic is mWallet, the electronic wallet: Where do you think the journey is going?WIRTH In an initial phase, there will be many different mWallet offers from retailers. However, this means that consumers will have to install a separate mWallet for each retailer. There will also be the first universal mWallets, which consumers can use to manage various payment cards and customer cards. These universal mWallets are capable of replacing the traditional wallet. Consumers can store credit, debit and customer cards in them and use them to pay in any store worldwide.