Evo Canada Merchant Services

Small Tropical Island to receive commercial NFC payment services

by admin on May 16, 2012 in Technology with No comments

Tonga, a tiny pacific-based island, will become one of the few countries to officially adopt wide-scale NFC payments. Local service provider Digicel launched a service called “Beep and Go” that works with NFC enabled phones and stickers along with the carrier’s current Mobile Money remittance service and Verifone’s mWallet Technology.

Fifty businesses nestled in the countries’ capital region of Nuku’alofa are set to test the launch and been equipped with Verifone’s mWallet NFC payment terminals. The plan is to roll out to hundreds more businesses throughout the year and bring the entire country online with an encompassing NFC payment platform.

This new service follows on the heels of a recent launch to allow New Zealanders the ability to transfer money to Digicel users directly through the Beep and Go platform. With NFC capabilities, Digicel customers will be able to use transfer funds to make purchases or exchange for cash all through the use of an NFC enabled phone.

The scope of payments and currency exchange continue to be pushed forward with emerging technology and the arrival of NFC. Countries like Tonga are demonstrating the ability for even smaller countries to be a part of this evolution.

First Data releases whitepaper on Improving the Value and Performance of Online Offers

by admin on May 14, 2012 in Digital Marketing with No comments

Due to the emergence of online and digital couponing, First Data has released a new case study to allow insights into how to incorporate and leverage digital platforms to connect offline and online commerce.

The whitepaper aims to demonstrate a clear basis for a working platform and how to:

• Integrate mobile, Internet, and in-store shopping experiences;
• Entice and connect shoppers with offers that don’t need printing to be used;
• Track and trace when offers are redeemed;
• Optimize all offers in real-time with the use of robust analytics.

Going further, the study highlights and points to how merchants can interface with current POS, gift cards and other couponing activities and go digital.

For more information, please view the whitepaper here.

Mastercard reports that South Korea, Kenya, Singapore and the US are most ready for mobile payments

by admin on May 9, 2012 in Mobile with No comments

According to a recent study launched and handled by Mastercard, although the USA is ahead of the curve for handling mobile payments and mobile payment infrastructure nine of the ten most prepared counties come from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Mastercard has coined this study the “Mobile Payments Readiness Index” and examined 34 countries to analyze current and future infrastructure developments and assess which ones are most “ready” to handle this new technology and form of payment.

New York-based Vice-President of Global Insights Group of Mastercard Worldwide, Christina Sommer had this to say, “Educating consumers on the benefit of mobile payments will be key to driving adoption as will partnerships and a strong infrastructure.”

Mobile commerce is the main driver for infrastructure needs where the majority of this type of activity is lead and done through smartphones. Once smartphones become a clear majority in terms of usage, more infrastructure developments will follow.

Mobile commerce ordering app launched by P.F. Chang’s

by admin on May 7, 2012 in Digital Marketing, Mobile with No comments

P.F. Chang, a fast yet casual restaurant chain, recently launched a mobile app allowing patrons to order meals and interact with the brand while waiting for the plates to arrive.

What started out as an alternative way to look at enhancing their current Warrior Rewards loyalty program, lead to uncovering important insights into how P.F. Chang customers use their time at the restaurant while waiting for meals. Dan Drummond, current brand director at P.F. Chang had this to say, “(customers) are spending more time with their smartphone than with their spouse, and we wanted to capitalize on this trend and develop a mobile application that improved our guest’s experience not only with loyalty but with our brand as a whole.”

Beyond ordering while in the restaurant itself, users can place orders for pick-up, interact with the brand and sign-up for the Warrior Rewards loyalty program. The app is also updated by time and day, highlighting featured meals and new deals.

Integrating with social media, the app has a virtual fortune cookie function, where users swipe over an image of the cookie and receive a fortune which than can be posted to Twitter and Facebook.

Product Spotlight: Ingenico 7780, cost-effective, short-range wireless payment terminal

by admin on May 2, 2012 in Evo Canada, POS systems with No comments

Targeting retailers, fast-food chains, fine dining establishments, bars, car service companies, convenience stores and many other types of businesses that are on-the-go, the Ingenico 7780 is your merchant services solution for wireless electronic payment processing.

With an operating range at over 656 feet, the i7780 is your go-to solution for pay at table and curbside service. Boasting fast transaction processing features such as a 12 line per second thermal printer, high speed modem, Ethernet communications and a powerful 32-bit processor, the i7780 is an ideal payment processing tool for fast paced business environments and the need to process transactions quickly, securely and efficiently.

Usability is accented by an extended path magnetic stripe reader, simple keypad and a large sharply backlit display that includes three programmable backlit buttons.

The Ingenico 7780 is your easy-to-use, wireless payment processing option for businesses that are always on the go!

Mobile Commerce Daily ranks the 10 best mobile applications

by admin on April 30, 2012 in Digital Marketing, Mobile with No comments

We live in an ever-increasing digital world based on applications, and sometimes it’s hard to keep track of every new and evolving application and their intended usage.

Mobile Commerce Daily, considered a reference for all the breaking news in mobile, has launched their view on current mobile applications and picked out the top 10 that sit high on their watchlist.

Below is a list of these applications and for a complete overview on each, please view the Mobile Commerce Daily article here.

Baked by Melissa
Citi
Domino’s Pizza mobile ordering application
Home Depot
Lowes
Rite Aid
Seamless
Ticketmaster
T.G.I Friday’s
Urbanspoon

Walmart launches cash payments online

by admin on April 25, 2012 in Payment solutions with No comments

Cash payments online you say? In a recent move by Walmart, the US-based retail conglomerate has announced a new program to allow consumers to purchase goods online using cash.

Customers can now shop via Walmart.com, make purchases which are then held for 48 hours, allowing customers time to visit any Walmart store, and make payments by cash. Once payments are received, the orders are allocated and shipped in the following days directly to the customer’s location.

The program is targeting users without access to credit or debit services but still are active online. According to the FDIC, one in four US household’s fall under “unbanked” or “under-serviced financially.” Tangent to this statistic, most purchases at Walmart stores are handled by cash or debit.

One question still remains, why purchase online when a consumer still has to physically visit the store to make payments? Only time will tell on how quickly this program will be adopted.

Commerce enabled mobile campaign launched by Best Buy

by admin on April 23, 2012 in Digital Marketing with No comments

Best Buy has launched a new location-based mobile campaign with a call-to-action for consumers to purchase products on the fly, including high-ticket items such as televisions. This mobile initiative has been launched within the Pandora application that not only leverages location-based promotions but aims to deliver more tailored information to consumers.

By leveraging the GPS function on smart devices, the app can geo-locate users and push promotions through the app directly to the consumer. Within the app are a click-to-call function, store locator and specific item highlighter with features to be purchased. Users can decide to call and place an order, walk-in to a retail location or purchase directly through the app and have the product delivered.

Currently, Best Buy is promoting an unusually high-priced item for this mobile strategy, with the Samsung 55” 1080p HD television. The television market and buying process is usually handled through extensive consumer research and consultation at the retail level. It will be interesting to see if this campaign does move the products and open up new ways to sell higher priced items.

Mobile commerce update: sales from iPad usage account for 89% of overall revenue

by admin on April 18, 2012 in Digital Marketing with No comments

A recent study done by RichRelevance, an e-commerce merchant service provider, uncovered a distinctive trend in mobile shopping by noting that 89% of all transactions originate from Apple’s iPad.

The study was conducted between April 2011 and March 2012, surveying 4.4 Billion unique shopping transactions breaking down information into the following categories:
- Amount of time users shop
- Time of day when shopping occurs
- Dollars spent
- Type of goods purchased

Click here to view an interesting infographic produced by RichRelevance highlighting the study’s findings.

Microsoft Dynamics AX users to access Ariba network

by admin on April 16, 2012 in Software with No comments

Microsoft has announced a new partnership that will allow Dynamics AX users to link up with US-based collaborative business services and e-invoicing provider Ariba. This strategic alliance will see an Ariba produced adapter that will link the Dynamics AX ERP system to the entire Ariba network. This level of connection will allow companies on the Dynamics AX platform to build further synergies with partner business, suppliers and customers, leveraging Ariba’s online services.

Ariba offers a community and cloud based portfolio of applications that help business contact, prospect, transfer financial data and provide various business analytics. This is the first move seen by Microsoft to bring the robust Dynamics AX ERP system online.