STORES Magazine - October 2008 - (Page S11)

enabling (and promotion-receiving) device is the real goal, for reasons having to do with the position of the cell phone in the social and economic hierarchies. Virtually every adult has a cell phone — there are some 260 million of them in the United States alone — which means there are far more cell phone users than there are credit card holders. And people value their phones more than they value their wallets. According to McCarthy, the average elapsed time between when someone loses a cell phone and calls in to report the loss is 60 minutes; the average time for a lost or stolen credit card — or an entire wallet, for that matter — is eight hours. People are forgetful: They might show up at a movie theater or a restaurant without their wallets, but many wouldn’t dare leave home without their cell phones. will be a bigger battle to be fought.” Making the case VIVOtech’s business is outfitting merchants and transaction processors to use NFC. How, Khan was asked, do you sell it? What do you say when a merCash is the enemy chant asks, “Why do I need this?” Kilcourse asked McCarthy “I sell them today and the future both,” he said. “If if First Data cares, particularthey accept contactless now, they can make their lines ly, how payment is presented move faster. For contactless transactions under $25 no at the point of sale. “We exist Barry signature is required, so things can move much more to enable payment and to McCarthy quickly. Some retailers have moved that up to $75 or convert cash into any other $100. Also, if it’s easier for the customer to use than form of payment,” he said. “Cash is the enemy. It’s the cash, it will speed up the replacement of cash, which is most expensive form of tender, and NFC is especially cost-effective right now. well suited for converting cash payments into electronic “As to the future, soon you will be able to consolidate payments.” credit and transaction management and loyalty proMcCarthy foresees NFC’s being adopted in phases. grams into the chip in the phone,” Khan says. “You are The credit card companies are very active in this area; no longer fighting for wallet share.” there are, he estimated, about 50 million credit cards Parker told a story about an interesting proposal with an antenna embedded in them currently in circulaBART received from the San Francisco Giants baseball tion. He also sees a role for merchants in the adoption team during the NFC pilot. The Giants wanted to partrate of NFC (merchants issue their own cards, many of ner with them in a very specific way. which are manufactured and hosted by First Data). If, for example, there’s a game at 1 p.m. on a TuesTo encourage the use of other devices, First Data day, by 10 a.m., the Giants have a solid handle on the has launched a contactless program entitled “GO-Tag.” size of the crowd they can expect. If it’s not a sell-out, A GO-Tag effectively takes the antenna out of the card, they’d like to use the BART network to send a text puts it on a piece of adhesive film that allows for some message to everyone within five miles of branding on the front and gets the conthe stadium offering a ticket discount. sumer to stick it on the back of his or her “The infrastructure is in place to support cell phone. that,” Parker said. “With on-the-air technology and cell phones with GPS systems — What they carry which are very common now — it’s totally This, all panelists agreed, is a bridge doable. It’s an attractive offer to the public, technology to be used until the chip is and it’s additional revenue for BART. embedded in the phone itself. The converEverybody wins.” sion of the cell phone into a transactionMohammad Khan WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / OCTOBER 2008 S11 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - October 2008

STORES Magazine - October 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Force of a Different Collar What Shoppers Think Bagging the Competition 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Favorite 50 Sticky Strategies for Retention Concept2Watch Kiosks Online Business Intelligence RFID NRFtech Wrap-up E-Commerce Credit Warehouse Systems Logistics Selling Tools Supply Chain LOEB Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - October 2008

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