Queues and the mobile payment option

A recent Australian Queuing Behaviour Survey has revealed that the majority of Australian shoppers are fed up with queues and that 67% will abandon their purchase altogether if they have to stand in line. This is not good news for the Australian retail sector, which is already facing hard times due to the global recession.

Galaxy Research surveyed over 1000 shoppers last year and Melissa Martin, senior market analyst, IT Spending and Vertical Markets, IDC Australia says that the research shows that: “Retailers around the world are facing a prolonged and painful period of change and transformation to what will become the new norm for the industry. The change process will produce a retail landscape that is quite different from that of the past. The close of 2008 marked one of the worst selling seasons in over a generation – driven by a global financial meltdown, a credit freeze, loss of severely over-leveraged asset values and high unemployment levels. These trends, which are expected to continue throughout 2009, will prolong financial recovery, and financially weakened retailers may fall along the way. Consumers, vendors, and retailers alike need to break with the past by embracing new directions, business models, and technologies.”

One of these ‘new’ technologies is mobile payment systems, making use of mobile phone technology to facilitate payments. This would at least alleviate the long queues. Mastercard’s Paypass system is one innovative mobile application that could alleviate queuing. The system works with a microchip which can be inserted into a mobile phone or in your key ring. Once you reach the register, you only need to tap your mobile phone on the reader, the payment is instantly processed and away you go.

Using SSL encryption to ensure that the transaction is secure, it also generates a mobile receipt for both the user and the retailer. Surveys show that 65% of Australians would be interested in using a contactless payment device to speed up the process. The benefits to the store, besides calmer and happier customers, are reduced cash handling fees, improved payment terminal reliability and reduced operating costs. Mobile payments and banking options are becoming more popular throughout the world because of the freedom of movement it affords customers.

An added benefit to utilising the mobile phone as a point of contact in stores is that the medium also lends itself rather well to mobile marketing. Text messaging can be used for store or item promotions, SMS coupons or plain old fashioned customer relationship management. Businesses wanting to survive the current credit crunch, keep their queuing customers happy and see the benefits of affordable and effective marketing need to embrace the potential that the mobile payments offer.

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Tags: API, Clickatell, in-store mobile marketing, Mastercard Paypass, mobile applications, mobile banking, mobile payment, mobile payment systems, mobile phone, mobile receipts, Paypass, SMS, SMS banking, SMS gateway, text messaging