What's New in Payments

Mastercard pilots blockchain product provenance platform

Mastercard enables luxury shoppers to purchase with confidence — Mastercard — “Consumers will be able to shop the exclusive Rodarte pieces at Fred Segal Sunset with the ability to scan a QR code on the garment’s tag to trace each step of the product journey. Consumers who purchase from Fred Segal’s online store can learn more about the product journey and verify authenticity by scanning the QR code when their package arrives at home.”


What's New in Payments

Samsung lets Canadian merchants accept contactless payments on Galaxy smartphones

Samsung Pay Touch app turns your Galaxy smartphone into a PoS terminal — SamMobile — “Samsung has quietly launched the Samsung Pay Touch app to target small businesses in Canada. The app transforms compatible Galaxy smartphones into POS (point of sale) terminals that can accept contactless payments from customers… The biggest advantage of Samsung Pay Touch is that it doesn’t require any additional hardware to set up. As long as you have a compatible Galaxy smartphone, you can download the app and complete the registration to start using it right away.”


What's New in Payments

Co-op extends mobile self-checkout trial to 30 UK supermarkets

Co-op Group expands till-less payment tech to more stores — Co-op Group — “The retailer is extending its pay-in-aisle technology trial, with time-pressed shoppers able to access the easy to use app on their phones and devices in over 30 Co-op food stores… It enables customers to scan products on their own device as they walk around the store, with the cost of the shop deducted from their Apple or Google Pay account with the touch of a button. Without the need to visit a till.”



What's New in Payments

Huawei expands NFC mobile payments to Hong Kong

Huawei rolling out new products to enhance user stickiness — Hong Kong Economic Journal — “Huawei Pay, which was launched in Hong Kong on Monday, allows users to settle bills in more than 40,000 retail spots accepting the UnionPay contactless card payment… Earlier this year, Huawei Pay was launched outside China for the first time. In Russia, 66 banks are now supporting the technology. Both Huawei and Honor smartphones will carry the new service, which is compatible with 20 mobile devices, including several smartwatches.”





What's New in Payments

Merchant payments association calls for 18 month delay on strong customer authentication

EPSM recommends harmonised migration plans on PSD2-SCA — EPSM — “To avoid significant acceptance disruptions, EPSM recommends that all regions should agree an additional timeframe of 18 months for standard applications, as well as up to 36 months for challenging applications, such as those in the travel and hospitality sector. This will deliver an EU-wide harmonised migration approach by the EBA and the 28 national regulators for remote card payments.”


What's New in Payments

7-Eleven Japan halts QR payments rollout after hackers steal $500k in two days

Seven-Eleven mobile pay hack hits Japan’s drive to go cashless — Nikkei Asian Review — “Japan’s second-largest retail group by sales on Monday rolled out 7pay, which lets users make purchases with a smartphone app at Seven-Eleven Japan’s roughly 21,000 stores nationwide… By early Thursday, Seven & i had confirmed about 55 million yen ($510,000) stolen from 900 or so 7pay users. The company has in effect suspended the service by stopping users from adding money to their accounts.”



Walmart combines blockchain and QR codes to let Chinese consumers verify source of fresh produce in stores

Label on food

Walmart customers in China will soon be able to scan QR codes on stickers attached to fresh meat, rice, mushrooms, cooking oil and other produce to acquire detailed product information including “the source of the scanned products and geographic location received by Walmart, logistics process, product inspection report, and many more data points”... More


What's New in Payments

Chinese retailers use face recognition to link shoppers’ online purchase history to in-store services

Data ‘R’ Us: Alibaba, JD.com seek to lock in merchant loyalty with new services — Reuters — “One of the first firms to join an Alibaba Group Holding Ltd programme that provides years of consumer shopping history, snack food chain, Bestore Co Ltd plans to link facial recognition technology with the e-commerce giant’s account data by the year’s end. For customers opting to have their facial data in Bestore’s systems, that means shop assistants will be able to check on what food they like the moment they enter one of its stores.”