INDEPENDENT mobile payments, insights, loyalty and rewards platform Zapper has announced that their merchants would now be able to accept tap-on-phone payments.
The new functionality gives the merchants access to virtually all digital payments without the need for any additional point-of-sale hardware, and irrespective of whether consumers had the Zapper app or not.
Zapper chief executive Brett White said after a successful pilot phase, they had rolled out new functionality available to all Zapper merchants, which enabled them to accept physical card payments as well as mobile wallet payments, such as Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Garmin Pay and others.
“The consumer simply taps the physical card or mobile device on the merchant’s compatible Android smartphone,” White said.
The upgrade also supported pin-on-glass functionality, which meant consumers who had exceeded their verification limit could safely enter their pin on the merchant’s Android smartphone and proceed with their transaction in the same manner as they would on a normal pin entry device when checking out.
White explained that previously their merchant app was primarily a tool for their merchants to get their payment confirmation feeds through a push notification, in real time, eliminating the need to wait for an SMS, email or logging into the merchant portal online.
“It also allowed merchants to generate a QR code or payment link quickly and easily. Now, the app also turns the merchant’s phone into a point-of-sale device without the need for any additional peripheral hardware.”
All consumers in South Africa would be able to make use of the new payment option, whether they have the Zapper consumer app on their phone or not.
“Our Zapper Merchant app will still enable shoppers to easily scan and pay via the app-generated Zapper QR code, or alternatively tap and pay using their physical bank card or mobile wallets. The primary aim of our latest offering is to ensure our merchants can accept as many payment methods as possible,” White said.
All an existing merchant needed to begin accepting tap-on-phone payments was to have the Zapper merchant app installed on an Android device that was NFC enabled and running version 9.0 or later.
The security of the tap-on-phone offering was said to meet the stringent requirements of physical point-of-sale devices, and consumers would benefit by not needing to hand over their cards to the merchant, making it a safe and contactless payment experience.
Apart from the Zapper traditional scan-to-pay QR options (either in physical space or via e-commerce offerings), Zapper merchants were now able to accept a comprehensive suite of payment options. This included vouchers, mobile wallets and third-party options integrated onto the Zapper network including: Ozow; Buy Now, Pay Later options such as MoreTyme; some cryptocurrency in the form of 6dot50; and now the card present payments via the tap-on-phone offering -- all through a single account.
White said that the tap-on-phone offering was a significant addition to their payment network and, along with their continuously evolving loyalty and rewards offering, Zapper merchants now had a comprehensive payment acceptance capability and an enterprise-level retail insights and payment solution that can be managed entirely via their smartphone.
Launching the Visa Tap to Phone set last year, the financial services company said this functionality would transform payment acceptance in South Africa as the world increasingly turned to digital payments amidst Covid-19; a simple mobile app could help millions of sellers worldwide quickly and securely accept contactless payments, while improving the checkout experience for customers.
After piloting Visa Tap to Phone over the past year, Visa announced product availability in South Africa and accelerated global product growth in the rest of the world via more than 35 new partners, including Visa Ready for Tap to Phone partners.
At the time, Visa said its commitment to digitally-enable 50 million small- and micro businesses, this cost-effective tool helped businesses quickly access the digital economy, prevent lost sales and improve cash flow by accepting contactless payments anywhere, anytime.
Already, the number of sellers using Tap to Phone has grown by 200 percent over the past two years, and was now live in numerous countries across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Other launches for Tap to Phone included Belarus, Malaysia, Peru, Russia and South Africa, with upcoming launches planned in Brazil, Italy, UK and more.
BUSINESS REPORT