NRF 2018 Confirms Biggest Trends In Payments

NRF’s annual Big Show took place last week in New York City. The show floor was packed with old companies and new all hoping to make a splash with their latest retail and payment solutions. Taking it all in, I was happy to note that what we’ve been writing about here on this blog — and what we’ve been professing through our own solutions — is perfectly aligned with the needs of the industry. Here are just three common trends that were addressed at NRF:

Omni-channel is critical, but don’t forget payment data

It’s no secret that retailers are fighting for their lives to win and retain customers against the likes of Amazon. Customers today expect an amazing shopping experience. That means a retailer must have strong in-store technology that marries with its online presence. At the same time, the retailer must have information on inventory no matter where it’s located. Historically, in-store and online retail systems were separated. The end result for retailers was silos of data which made making customer-enhancing decisions difficult, if not impossible. Omni-channel retailing brings all data into one pool, giving retailers new insights.

Unfortunately, many retailers still have siloed data from their payment providers who handle in-store and on-line payments separately. We saw this shortcoming early on, which is why Creditcall offers omni-channel payment capabilities in our gateway. Armed with this additional data, retailers now have complete visibility and gain the ability to deliver to customers the shopping experience they demand.

EMV still has a way to go

The US has come a long way concerning EMV upgrades, but most of the work has been done in tier one and two. Many of the remaining small and medium merchants have yet to make the shift and, as a result, nearly half of transactions still rely on mag-stripe technology. There are a few reasons for this delay, but one major one is software vendors who haven’t adopted EMV and, therefore, can’t offer EMV solutions to their merchants.

To address this need, Creditcall’s pre-certified ChipDNA technology can be used by ISVs to effectively outsource the payment component of their solution. One simple integration allows a complete EMV upgrade to take place which works with a multitude of payment devices and processors.

At NRF, we saw a lot of EMV certified solutions that were limited in terms of the number of terminals and acquirers being certified. Simply put, being “EMV certified” doesn’t mean that a company has the right combination an ISV needs. Creditcall has an industry-leading number of certifications level for the major terminal manufacturers and payment companies.

Contactless payments on the rise

The mystique surrounding mobile wallets seems to be wearing off in the US. At the same time, contactless is on the rise. Issuers who were busy updating their infrastructure for EMV and couldn’t allocate much resources to a contactless initiative are now pushing for more contactless cards to be placed into circulation. The simple user experience of the tap of a card aligns perfectly with a retailers’ desire to create better in-store shopping experiences.

In the UK, card payments have overtaken cash payments and now account for more than 50 percent of all retail purchases, of which 30 percent were contactless. Being a UK-based company, Creditcall’s experience, payment gateway, and contactless EMV Level 2 Kernel are ready for ISVs in the US market.

Don’t worry about payments any more

If you’re a software developer looking to remove the burden of creating and maintaining secure payment functionality in your software, we welcome the opportunity to work with you. Creditcall has proven success in EMV chip card an contactless payments and a 100-percent first-time EMV certification record. No matter what industry you’re in, we have the experience and knowledge to help.

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