Annual shipments of NFC-ready POS terminals reached 67.2m units globally in 2020, bringing the total number to 140.5m or 68% of all POS terminals worldwide, according to Berg Insight... More
Retail
Mobile contactless payments now account for one in three card transactions in Russia
Mobile contactless payments now account for just over a third of all card transactions (34%) and just under a third of total card transaction value (31%) in Russia compared with 25% of transactions and 23% of transaction value in 2019-2020, according to MTS Bank research... More
Sainsbury’s lets customers ‘just walk out’ of contactless store in London
Customers using a Sainsbury’s contactless convenience store in London can now take the products they want to purchase from the shelves and charge their purchases to their credit or debit card without needing to scan them with their smartphone or visit a checkout by using a new feature on the UK retailer’s SmartShop app... More
Carrefour opens its first contactless store in Paris
France-based supermarket chain Carrefour has opened its first contactless convenience store in Paris that allows customers to walk in, select the items they wish to purchase and pay for them without needing to register or check in at the entrance, download an app or scan their purchases with their mobile device or at a checkout... More
Paradies Lagardère expands mobile self-checkout to airport stores across the US and Canada
Customers at Paradies Lagardère retail outlets at 20 additional airports across the US and Canada can now scan and pay for the products they select with their own mobile device without needing to visit a checkout... More
Japanese banks gear up to test digital currency
A consortium of more than 70 leading banks, financial services providers and other businesses in Japan is to conduct a series of proof of concept (PoC) trials of a digital currency supported by commercial banks across a range of specific use cases with the aim of rolling the currency out by the end of the 2022 fiscal year... More
US grocery stores trial AI-powered self-checkout shopping carts
Two US stores owned by retail giant Albertsons are trialling a self-checkout shopping trolley that enables customers to select and scan items while they shop, compare products and receive personalised recommendations via an on-cart screen, and pay for their purchases by inserting or tapping their payments card without visiting a checkout... More
Ikea introduces scan-and-go mobile checkout in Australia
Customers at two Ikea outlets in Brisbane, Australia, can now use their mobile device to scan the products they want to buy while they shop and then pay on their way out without needing to unload and reload their shopping cart at the checkout... More
US region to get blockchain-powered local digital currency
Consumers in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts in the US will soon be able to make in-store and online purchases and carry out person-to-person transactions using a digital version of the BerkShares local currency... More
African payment apps to add ultrasonic authentication for contactless transactions
Consumers across Africa will soon be able to use Nigeria-based payment services provider Paga Group’s mobile apps to authenticate in-store and person-to-person contactless payments using ultrasonic data-over-sound proximity verification technology... More
Australian liquor store chain adds NFC shelf labels to enhance customer engagement
Consumers purchasing beer, wine and spirits at outlets operated by Dan Murphy’s in Australia can now get product information and read customer reviews about specific products by tapping an NFC shelf label with their smartphone... More
Sri Lanka launches national QR code mobile payments solution
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has begun a nationwide rollout of the LankaQR digital payments solution that enables consumers to make payments to merchants and service providers directly from their bank account by scanning a QR code with their mobile device... More
UK bank sees 50,000 customers opt to set their own contactless limit
Some 50,000 customers of Starling Bank have chosen to set their own contactless spending limit to a lower amount than the maximum of £100 (US$135) per contactless transaction that the UK government introduced in October... More
Number of digital yuan wallets issued in China reaches 140m
The total number of personal and corporate digital yuan wallets issued in China has risen from 24.5m in July to 140m as of October, an increase of nearly 600%, the People’s Bank of China’s Mu Changchun has revealed... More
Hudson launches automated contactless retail outlet at JFK International Airport
Passengers travelling from Terminal 4 at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport in the US can now purchase a selection of goods from a range of global brands at a fully automated contactless retail outlet... More
Dublin coffee shop rolls out reusable contactless payments cup
Customers at a Bear Market Coffee outlet in Dublin in Ireland can now pay for their beverages and receive rewards by using a reusable contactless payments cup purchased from the coffee retailer... More
Digital wallet transaction volumes to top US$10tn globally by 2025
The global transaction volume of in-store and ecommerce digital wallet payments will exceed US$10tn by 2025, according to a forecast commissioned by Discover Global Network... More
German savings banks add buy now pay later service to mobile payments app
German savings banks in the Sparkasse group have launched a buy now pay later service in their mobile payments app, enabling customers to request a loan to pay for goods at the point of sale via their Android smartphone and arrange to repay it in instalments... More
Credit Libanais to trial biometric payment cards
Lebanese bank Credit Libanais is to pilot a biometric payment card that will enable customers to authorise contactless payments with their thumb... More
China puts pressure on McDonald’s, Visa and Nike to accept digital yuan
The Chinese government is reportedly putting pressure on US-based companies including McDonald’s, Visa and Nike to accept payments in digital yuan before the start of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics... More