How Mobile Tops, First Data Circles Square And The ROI On Mobile Banking

All was a little quiet on the main stage for the major mobile pay players that PYMNTS tracks data about, but that doesn’t mean all was quiet on the mobile payments front.

To get a taste for the mobile payments momentum in the third full week of 2016, we’ve gathered what’s new in mobile payments, including the latest data that was just released on holiday mobile shopping, who broke news at NRF and a report on the real return on investment for mobile banking.

Mobile Tops In Holiday Sales Data

Sure, it may not be a surprise that mobile is gaining a greater share of online sales, but the rising percentage certainly has become more of an eyebrow-raiser.

Data released this week from Adobe Digital Index revealed that 2015’s holiday online sales — which topped out at nearly $83.3 billion, a 12.7 percent increase from 2014 — were driven more and more by mobile. What the report revealed is that mobile accounted for 39 percent of overall digital traffic, with 17 percent of sales coming from those mobile devices.

Sure, mobile is still more popular for browsing than buying, but the pendulum is starting to slowly shift.

First Data Circles Square

First Data has officially rolled out Clover Go, similar to Square’s device, that enables EMV and mobile payments via a reader that plugs into an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet.

Clover Go works with an app that merchants download; once a business is using the system, it can assign dollar amounts, including taxes and tips, to inventory, as well as view transaction-level detail and the integration of data across all Clover devices that the business might use. The release adds that employees can download the app on their own devices and that Clover Go facilitates multi-user and multi-merchant functionality.

The device is targeted at the SMB merchant or entrepreneur needing to adapt to the changing times, which means needing the ability to accept various forms of payments whenever, wherever and however the consumer desires. Clearly, mobile pay dongle popularity isn’t going away anytime soon.

PayPal also has its own similar version to accept the same payment types called the PayPal Here Chip Card Reader, which was released last fall.

The 411 On Mobile Banking ROI

FinTech’s Fiserv says it has the goods on mobile banking’s return on investment.

Fiserv released a report this week about the ROI on mobile banking as used by financial institutions. The findings highlighted lower attrition from the banks, greater use of financial institution offerings and a growing number of transactions.

The end result was a boost to financial institutions’ top lines. Mobile users held an average of 2.3 products that were offered through their primary banking institution, which was better than the 1.3 average seen across peers that only transacted at physical branches. The three months that came after mobile banking adoption came to show transaction growth across both credit and debit, as well as ATMs and ACH conduits. That can lead to better revenues via interchange through card transactions.

“The financial institutions in this study are seeing tangible revenue from mobile banking,” said Matt Wilcox, senior VP of marketing strategy and innovation at Fiserv. “Marketing mobile banking and highlighting how it can help consumers keep pace with the speed of life is absolutely essential if financial institutions want to grow adoption and use of the service and reap the benefits of their mobile investment.”

Say Hello To Elo’s New NFC-Enabled POS

Half the battle in mobile payment adoption is getting consumers up to speed with knowing where the technology is offered and how to use it.

Elo, a point-of-sale system manufacturer, announced that it has updated its self-service POS products to now boast full integration with EMV and NFC payment solutions. And it brought in Verifone to enable the solution.

“The option to use self-service checkout, along with EMV, mobile payments and loyalty programs, are just a few examples of what consumers are increasingly beginning to expect from their in-store shopping experience,” said Jerry Hamrock, senior director of global product management for mobile products at Verifone.

U.S. Bank Adds Apple Pay Acceptance To Another Card

Apple Pay capability has landed on another card offered by U.S. Bank.

U.S. Bank announced yesterday (Jan. 20) that it was offering the ability to use Apple Pay for its customers who want to use it with their U.S. Bank FlexPerks American Express card. With this addition, all U.S. bank credit and debit cards (for both consumers and SMBs) are compatible with Apple Pay.

“Enabling Apple Pay for our U.S. Bank FlexPerks American Express Cardmembers continues our efforts to give customers choices in how they manage payments, as well as providing them an easy, secure and private way to pay,” said Cliff Cook, senior VP for U.S. Bank’s retail credit card division.