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ternative to using a credit card, depending on the brand. Instead of whipping out your Visa to pay at the checkout, you pay by tapping your smartphone. Mobile wallet apps also typically store your business loyalty cards so you don’t have to carry them around.
U.S. mobile payments are expected to grow to about $90 billion in 2017 from about $12.8 billion in 2012, according to Forrester Research, which is based in Cambridge, Mass. Paying with mobile wallets and smartphones is already prevalent in Japan and other Asian countries.
A group of large retailers that includes Walmart, Best Buy, Dillard’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Target and 7-Eleven have formed the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) and are developing their own app called the MCX Mobile Wallet.
The app, which is not yet available, also will give consumers special offers, promotions and retail programs from participating stores, even while they shop. It also will allow users to store receipts from all the purchases made.
“We think it’s going to make shopping more satisfying,
Watch a video demonstrating the Scan & Go process. more convenient and more interactive,” said Jeremy Mullman, MCX spokesman. The group has found that consumers want their shopping experiences to be more mobile as well as quicker and more organized, he said. Merchants also will benefit. “Merchants are looking at mobile commerce as a way to improve shopping and paying,” Mullman said.
Other mobile technologies under development include comparison-shopping apps, such as one that identifies grocery products and lets consumers sort them according to nutrition information, price and other features.
Impact on workers
But there are concerns about these mobile shopping apps, including whether ones such as Scan & Go will take the place of customer-service workers. Just look at the airline industry, where self-serve kiosks in airports take the place of airline workers.
“It’s very cool technology,” said Stephanie Bock, a 24-yearold Phoenix resident, about the Scan & Go app. “I would try it. (But) I’m a little concerned it will take jobs away from people.”
The potential for job loss also concerns Lauren Ochoa, a 22-year-old Paradise Valley resident, who said that she doesn’t use self-serve checkouts for that reason. However, she said she could see that Scan & Go would save time at the checkout.
The app is intended to be another choice of ways to check out, Walmart’s Hardie said.
“Scan & Go is not intended to replace cashiers,” she said. “We believe our multiple checkout experience gives us an advantage.”
Security concerns
Another concern is security, particularly when using your cellphone like a bank card. Mullman said that with MCXMobile Wallet, a customer’s financial information will be code-protected and stored on the cloud.
Security also is an issue with self-scanning. How will a store know that a consumer has scanned all items?
“There’s some trustworthiness involved,” said Heather Knopf, assistant manager at the Walmart at Interstate 17 and Happy Valley Road, Phoenix. The store has been trying out Scan & Go since February.
About one in 10 customers using the app will be given a quality-control check by an employee, she said. Additionally, the app contains other measures to alert employees to double-check orders.
Inventory and ordering also could be problems. There’s a possibility a customer could buy five flavors of cat food but scan only one can and enter the quantity as “5.”
The apps also aren’t for everyone.
“It’s all about the empowerment of a customer who has already adopted the technology,” Berry said.
She says she sees Scan & Go as popular with moms-on-thego, shoppers with only a few items and technologically savvy consumers.
Will a luxury buyer want to use it? Probably not, she said, adding that many customers will prefer the one-on-one contact with store personnel.
However, mobile-shopping technology is going to become only more prevalent, Berry said.
“It’s making the stores more efficient,” she said. And it lets consumers shop the way they want to shop, she said.