Retail giants form alliances to develop mobile payment tools CurrentC

Earlier, there was news that many retailers wanted to make their own payment system, and the support for Apple Pay seemed ambiguous. Now, some retail giants have made clear that they want to develop their mobile payment tools and not play with Apple.

When Apple Pay, Apple stressed that it had won the support of the six largest U.S. banks and had partnered with a large number of retailers, including Macy's, McDonald's, Walgreens, and Disney, which totaled 220,000. However, it should not be overlooked that the large chain giants did not participate in the support team, including Wal-Mart, Target department store, Starbucks and so on.

Chain brands, such as Starbucks, say the reason why Apple Pay is not supported is because it is temporarily unable to install support for NFC payments in all outlets, which costs dearly. But, Starbucks says, they will provide tools that allow users to transfer money via Apple Pay to Starbucks ' payment app and eventually pay through the Starbucks payment tool. You know, Starbucks app can convert 6 million times a week to purchase, accounting for 15% of total purchase volume. How can such a large piece of cake be easily taken away?

The Starbucks app is arguably the most successful mobile payment system in the United States, with more and more retail giants trying to emulate Starbucks ' approach. Why? Of course not unwilling to install the NFC platform that simple reason. Using the credit card payment channel that Apple Pay still walks, the relationship between the merchant and the credit card company has been bad. In the United States, people brush a credit card consumption at a consumer place, and a merchant must pay 2% of its turnover to a credit card company as a fee. In 2012, the fee amounted to $40 billion. While Apple Pay will not charge the merchant with an extra fee, instead of charging the bank, it will not change the fact that the merchant has to pay a high fee to the credit card company.

Credit card consumption has become a widely accepted approach in the traditional payment era, but with the rise of mobile payments, retailers seem to have seen a chance to circumvent credit cards. Currently, retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Target have formed their own mobile payment alliances and are developing mobile payment tools called CurrentC. The tool, like Google Wallet and Apple pay, is paid through smartphones.

Technically, CurrentC did not choose NFC technology, but chose a two-dimensional code. The main purpose is to be compatible with more smartphones that do not have NFC communication modules. But its focus is not here, it focuses on "credit card". Consumers can bind CurrentC to their debit cards, gift cards, or even direct bank accounts. If consumers use CurrentC to brush their debit cards, the fee for each transaction is only 12 cents. And, thanks to the retail giants, CurrentC also has significant retail features, such as offering special discounts to consumers who use the tool.

Currently, CurrentC is in the final Test and is expected to be released and enabled next year. There is no doubt that CurrentC will compete directly with Apple Pay. While Apple Pay has a first-rate advantage, CurrentC offers consumers a rich discount program at the cost of not allowing users to use Apple Pay again. Which one is it? This is a problem.