MasterCard started launched PayPass Wallet Services in May of 2012 and has recently given its digital product an upgrade. The payment processor announced that the service is now out of production trial and will be renamed MasterPass. MasterCard also has new plans for the product including more ways it can improve the buying experience. By the close of March, Canada and Australia will have MasterPass first while the US will get it in the Spring with the UK getting the service in the Summer. Previously, the PayPass Wallet Services allowed users to create accounts and use it to buy products on specific sites. The renamed MasterPass will allow the same features including the storage of identity, credit card, and shipping information. A new addition is that users will now be able to pay physically at a store with their mobile device.
MasterPass will allow retailers to tackle online competition by offering digital payments options in the physical shopping experience. Ed Olebe, MasterCard senior vice president, states that, ““Take buying a shirt for example. The typical experience is you swipe a card and check out. But why can’t you buy from the rack from your phone? If you like it and have to leave, why can’t you buy it from your phone and have the store ship it to your home?”
rollout will see MasterCard placing more emphasis on linking up with merchants and retailers, especially those who may be feeling the pinch thanks to cheaper, more efficient online retailers. MasterCard’s plan? To allow those businesses to integrate MasterPass into the sorts of mobile-friendly, device-agnostic shopping experiences that they want to create, be they reliant on NFC transactions, QR codes, or purely online payments. According to MasterCard senior vice president Ed Olebe, more than a few retailers are looking for ways to enhance the traditional shopping experience with the sort of flexibility that digital modes of payment afford consumers. MasterCards wants their digital wallet to be a part of these types of “omnichannel” sales.
Another way the company wants the digital wallet to be used is through a MasterPass API letting others offer their own branded digital wallet. Another set of features to the service come from the buy out of a startup named Truaxis which allows MasterCard to offer value-added services.
The new launch from MasterCard makes it clear that the company is serious about the mobile payment sector and is looking to be a big part of the industry. Analysts expect this sector to grow quite fast by 2017 and be a major part of the mix. Competition is not too far behind and Visa has started its own partner program called Ready.
Source: TechCrunch
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