How to Remain Agile and Process Safely and Securely Amidst an Evolving Payments Landscape

With the growing popularity of NFC, the upcoming liability shift in EMV and other emerging technologies and fraud, how do I ensure that payment processing remains safe, secure and agile?
The release of Apple Pay in 2014 has put NFC technology on the map. Additionally, the migration to EMV standards are pushing merchants to opt for readers that enable the NFC technology, prompting wider adoption. Due to the types of security and authentication measures involved in NFC, these transactions are garnering card-present interchange rates, blurring the lines between online and offline transactions. As the technology – and consumer behavior – continues to shift, merchants need to ensure their payment processing allows them to provide a top-notch customer experience while protecting payments and remaining competitive.
This month, we searched for insight from the experts on current NFC payments trends, the related impacts of EMV and how merchants can remain agile and process safely to best protect payments and boost profits.
Here is what several sources are saying:

  • Adopt a mobile wallet strategy. Given the hype around proximity mobile payments, retailers should be swift in adopting a way to reach consumers anytime and any place. In addition to seamless payments for customers, mobile wallets can reduce operating costs for merchants by preventing more fraud and allowing them to qualify for lower interchange rates on these transactions. Additionally, loyalty and promotional opportunities for merchants that optimize big data and omni-channel have the potential to significantly boost revenues.
  • Believe the stats. Apple Pay has caused quite the ripple effect in payments. NFC has been around for years but Apple Pay – with help from the EMV migration, which encourages NFC-enabled readers – has catapulted the technology to the forefront of the industry. com offers some stats to digest:
    • 1 million cards registered with Apple Pay within 3 days of its launch
    • Verifone’s sales topped $1.9 billion in the last fiscal year as a result of Apple Pay pushing a new wave of POS upgrades to support NFC
    • Merchants that opt to use CurrentC will have to wait approximately 61-151 Days, if it meets its predicted launch date of March 2015.
  • Navigate the Divide. Visa and MasterCard are still pondering how to handle the imminent blurring of card-present and card-not-present commerce, specifically as it relates to interchange rates. According to Ralph Dangelmaier, CEO, BlueSnap
  • commenting for cardnotpresent.com, card brands are treading carefully to avoid losing ground to Merchant Customer Exchange or the anti-credit card camp (CurrentC) that is fighting for dominance in the payments industry. As part of this ecosystem, merchants must remain agile in figuring out how to navigate this somewhat shaky chasm.
  • Focus on seamless and safe transactions. The line between card-present (CP) and card-not-present (CNP) continues to blur with mobile payments. Currently, mobile transactions are classified as card-not-present but as technology like NFC enables them to become as – or more – secure than CP transactions, there may be a change in interchange treatment. NFC is quickly becoming the de facto method for mobile payments and, as merchants gear up for EMV and adopt NFC-enabled terminals, its popularity will continue to skyrocket. Verifi recommends that merchant re-evaluate their needs based on the unique challenges of 2015, directing efforts at creating a seamless and secure customer experience that prevents fraud and protects payments across channels and card brands along every step of the transaction lifecycle.

 
To skillfully navigate the dynamic payments landscape, merchants will need to stay on top of NFC payments trends, the related impacts of EMV and how to remain competitive by providing exceptional, seamless customer experience. Main points of focus include:

  • Adopting a mobile wallet strategy – NFC and mobile will surely continue to revolutionize the payments ecosystem. Smart merchants will adopt a mobile wallet strategy that allows them to efficiently protect payments and boost revenue.
  • Believing the stats – The Apple Pay adoption numbers speak volumes about what merchants can expect for the future of NFC. Embracing this technology and the security benefits it brings early on can be beneficial for merchants.
  • Navigating the divide – Pay attention to the blurring lines between CP and CNP commerce and adjust your security, fraud prevention and payment processing tools accordingly.
  • Focusing on seamless and safe transactions – the key will be balancing security optimization with a streamlined payment experience for customers with emphasis on ease-of-use.

Verifi can help you manage your current and future payment processing needs with our Super Gateway, which combines the payments protection power of the Global Payment Gateway, Intelligence Suite®, Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN™) and Chargeback Representment (CBR), to form a processor agnostic platform with the flexibility to manage all of your current and future needs. The “Super Gateway” provides omni-channel, end-to-end payments protection with customizable fraud tools, chargeback prevention that stops up to 40% or more of your chargebacks, chargeback representment that recovers up to 50% of revenue lost to chargebacks and feedback loops to help you manage your front-end fraud prevention while protecting payments and boosting profits. Contact us to find out how to secure your payments from end-to-end while maintaining a superior customer experience. What are your thoughts? Ping us on twitter (@verifi) with #paymentstips and let us know what you think.