The initiative educates retailers and consumers about mobile payment solutions. In doing so, it is responding to consumers’ general receptiveness to the concept. The partners aim to provide a basic understanding of the innovative technology and enable retailers to offer their customers an optimal solution for mobile payment. The exchange of expertise between the partners also plays a significant role in the EHI Mobile Payment Initiative.
“It is very important to us to drive forward digitisation in the retail sector in general, and mobile payment in particular, in Germany,” said Carolin Thomass, Director of Mobile Payment at PAYBACK. The Munich-based loyalty and marketing experts bring together the offline and online commercial worlds with the PAYBACK app. The app combines all services that are relevant for retailers and customers. “Our app allows customers to collect points, activate coupons and make mobile payments. This is the only way to make paying with smartphones interesting and relevant for consumers,” said Thomass.
The EHI Mobile Payment Initiative is based on a representative survey carried out by the EHI. The survey results show that some 20 million consumers in Germany are open to using mobile payment methods. They particularly like the fact that the payment process is much faster and simpler. By contrast, consumers who remain unconvinced by mobile payment solutions in many cases feel they do not have enough information at their disposal or are not fully aware of the advantages of mobile payment. This is where the EHI Mobile Payment Initiative comes in.
“The technological solutions for paying with smartphones exist right now. The crucial next step is to demonstrate the benefits and security of these to retailers and consumers,” explained Carolin Thomass. “Just like the results of the EHI survey show, we are also seeing growing acceptance among customers – we currently have over six million active users of the PAYBACK app. Our users pay with PAYBACK PAY once a week on average. We believe that the new initiative has come just at the right time to further boost this upward trend.”
The PAYBACK app’s mobile payment function was launched in 2016 and is a market leader in Germany. Customers can use their mobile phones to pay for purchases at the partner retailers Alnatura, Aral, dm-drogerie markt, Galeria Kaufhof, Real, REWE, Thalia, TeeGschwendner and PENNY. There are 10,500 PAY acceptance points in total in Germany. The PAYBACK app is one of the top three shopping apps in Germany, together with Amazon and eBay.