Tag Archives: merchant customer exchange

Wal-Mart Tests “Scan & Go” iPhone app

Leave a reply

Keeping the Official Merchant Services blogs’ focus in the technology and mobile realm, today we take a look at the newest tech to be utilized by the retail giant Wal-Mart, which could potentially make the process of checking out more personal and faster.

Last week, Wal-Mart initiated testing of its new “Scan & Go” iPhone app in a Rogers, Arkansas supercenter near the company’s corporate headquarters.  Employees who had Apple Inc. iPhones were among the first to be able to test out the new app and it’s features in store.  The app allows customers to scan products as they shop and put them in bags in their carts. When it comes time to check out, the app transfers the scanned items to the self-checkout kiosk and the customer pays with conventional means (cash, check, or credit card).

The app does not allow users to pay on their phones yet.  However, we recently reported here that Wal-Mart had joined forces with other large retailers to begin creating a retailer-focused mobile wallet app called Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX.  I expect to see some sort of integration between the “Scan & Go” app and the finished MCX product after it is unveiled.

The new system intends to skirt long lines at the retailers’ checkout counters, a widely held complaint of Wal-Mart shoppers.  Customers have even taken to Twitter to vent frustrations at times. The push to eliminate the need for cashiers and baggers could save Wal-Mart millions of dollars, said Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley.  The company spends about $12 million dollars in cashier wages every second at its U.S. Wal-Mart stores.

Wal-Mart’s iPhone app already includes functions such as letting shoppers create lists and seeing which items are in stock. Spokesman David Tovar said of the program, “We’re continually testing new and innovative ways to serve customers and enhance the shopping experience in our stores.”

This test comes as many retailers attempt new ways to speed up the checkout process and become innovators.  Wal-Mart declined to give details on where the test might lead, but it doesn’t seem a far leap to other mobile phone platforms (Android and Blackberry) as well as mobile payment options in the future.

mobile wallet

Mega Retailers Jump into Mobile Wallets [2023 Update]

Leave a reply

Today the Official Merchant Services Blog will continue with our Mobile Commerce theme. A group of 14 Major U.S. Retailers recently announced that they have decided to join forces and create their own mobile wallet application. The group, which includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Target Corp., will call itself Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX.

MCX has no official launch date as of today, but the merchants are determined to jump head first into the expanding mobile payments market. The network of merchants also includes 7-Eleven  Inc., Alon Brands Inc., CVS Caremark Corp., Darden Restaurants Inc., Lowes Co., Sunoco Inc., Sears Holding Corp. and the Publix Supermarket chains.

Merchant Customer Exchange

MCX seeks to corner a piece of the mobile payments market, expected to balloon from $172 billion this year to $600 billion by 2016. The new merchant super group plans on offering a mobile-commerce solution capable of seamlessly integrating a wide range of consumer offers, promotions and retail programs. The application will be available through virtually any smart phone.

This move comes about a week after Starbucks announced partnering with Square, a mobile processing start-up that uses smart phone attachments to accept credit cards. Now MCX will not only compete with Square, it has taken away 14 potential partners from the processor. MCX is also bad news for Google, which has been expanding its own mobile wallet platform, called Google Wallet over the past year. Google Wallet uses NFC, or near field communication to transmit payment data from a customers smart phone to an NFC-enabled payment terminal.

Mega-Merchants

With these mega retailers coming together, a new perspective can be used to develop mobile wallet apps. The retailers want to focus on ease of use and security for the consumer.

“As merchants, no one understands our customers’ shopping and payment experience better than we do, and we’re confident that together we can develop a technology solution that makes that experience more engaging, convenient and efficient,” said Mark Williams, president of financial services at Best Buy.

Mike Cook, corporate vice president and assistant treasurer of Wal-Mart said, “the MCX platform will employ secure technology to deliver an efficiency-enhancing mobile solution available to all merchant categories, including retail stores, casual dining, petroleum and e-commerce.”

Now with many more contenders in the mobile commerce arena, the only thing consumers can do is wait for the dust to settle. The great race to mobile wallet supremacy has begun!Host Merchant Services will keep you up to date on all new technology developments and potential partnerships relating to the mobile payments world.