Rambus CMO Jerome Nadel recently penned an article for the Huffington Post (UK) that explores the concept of frictionless commerce and its impact on the future shopping experience. Indeed, mobile retail wallets have made it easier than ever before for shoppers to tap, swipe and pay. Meanwhile, new technology is allowing consumers to scan barcodes, add to shopping carts and receive geo-targeted updates, discounts and offers on the go.
According to Nadel, mobile wallets enable brands to fully serve their customers with integrated value-add features that combine payment and rewards.
“Merchants and card payment processors (banks and merchant acquirers) have realized this opportunity to offer an improved and more personalized service,” he writes. “By combining payment methods with sophisticated personalization features, we can now store and use tokens of digital value such as gift cards, coupons and loyalty rewards in merchant specific apps. Meaning, if we choose to use a gift card from our digital wallet, the ‘currency’ is converted and deducted from the total purchase amount in a single, seamless transaction.”
In practical terms, says Nadel, this means a mobile payment app would let a shopper know (in-store) that the supermarket is running a two-for-one special offer on a favorite beer.
“The app also knows that I just so happen to have a 25% off coupon for that same beer – giving me a highly-personalized offer experience,” he explains. “Combine this service with contactless payment through my pre-loaded debit card and you have the complete package of geolocation, personalized advertising, loyalty rewards and payments all in one place.”
As Nadel notes, when merchants begin to take ownership of their own payment processes, they move closer to understanding the consumer and what comprises our payment DNA – what we buy, how we prefer to buy it and when. Ultimately, this means retailers can offer shoppers relevant and ultra-personalized offers and discounts. The discount can be applied with the click of a button before using NFC technology to tap and purchase in one quick transaction.
“In a landscape of ever-increasing technology and business model disruption, accelerated adoption and pull from consumers defines success. Trust, convenience, and perceived value are the ingredients that will propel mobile payments and retail wallets,” Nadel concludes. “Unifying various types of digital value and enabling consumers to easily buy and pay will be the tipping point to broad adoption. Essentially, if it makes our lives easier, offers a better experience and even potentially even makes goods cheaper, then there is a huge market opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of.”
