Posts tagged airtag
AIRTAG brings PayPal features to the KFC Fast Track wallet
Dec 3rd
With fifty million mobile devices in the hands of shoppers this holiday season, it’s clear that mobile is beginning to significantly impact retail. With more
consumers browsing, researching and purchasing by mobile phone this year than any other, smart retailers are starting to engage customers in new ways – on the channel where they spend the most time.
Today we have got some news on the mobile shopping frontier, with the announcement of a new collaboration with PayPal for the KFC Fast Track mobile wallet. Launched this year using AIRSHOP – our white label mobile wallet solution; Fast Track enables KFC customers to order and pay in advance by mobile phone, without needing to be in a physical store.
The new PayPal features announced today will enable KFC customers to complete transactions even faster and easier, and we are really excited about that! With the PayPal features, KFCcustomers can create a Fast Track account and pay using their existing PayPal account details by simply entering their username and password, without having to provide their financial details to a third party.
“With the majority of mobile and online commerce traffic being lost during login and check-out processes, we are very excited to work with PayPal to provide KFC customers with faster alternatives that streamline the customer experience,” said Jérémie Leroyer CEO & Co-Founder of AIRTAG. “We are already seeing the majority of Fast Track orders being placed by mobile phone, and these new features will make it even more convenient for those on the go costumers to
create an account, order and pay in the quickest way possible.”
The Fast Track mobile wallet along with the new streamlined payment features: bring us even one step closer to a wallet-less high street, where we can all go cashless.
“This collaboration is another step on the journey towards a wallet-less high street, where customers will be able to leave their wallet or purse at home and pay using their smartphone or tablet. Our research shows that a third of people would choose their smartphone over their wallet when leaving home – while 80% wish they could leave their wallet at home,” said Rob Harper, Head of Retail Services at PayPal UK, “We predict that by 2016 you won’t need your wallet to pay on the UK high street – your smartphone will be enough.”
KFC Fast Track is now available at select locations in the UK including: Southampton, Basingstoke, Woking and Slough. We have already received great feedback, and we’re sure if you try the KFC Fast Track mobile ordering and payment wallet you will save yourself lots of time and waiting in line too. Download the Fast Track app now on iTunes, or access the KFC Fast Track mobile website
Read the KFC Fast Track Mobile Wallet Case Study
Read the full KFC, PayPal, AIRTAG Press Release
Learn more about AIRTAG’s mobile shopping solutions
How small & medium sized retailers can break into Mobile Shopping
Nov 6th
While many of the current retail commerce conversations have been focused on the mobile shopping strategies that tier 1 retailers are implementing, little has been said about how the mobile revolution is affecting the rest of retail. In the current state of retail with increasing online competition and new values over finding the best prices, every sized retailer should be thinking about how to get on board with mobile shopping. Here are some best practices that retailers of any size can follow to break into mobile shopping.
Mobile accessible: We first recommend that every sized retail chain has a website that is accessible by mobile phone. This is important because, 70pc of consumers call a business directly from search results and an additional 57% won’t recommend a business that has a poorly designed mobile site. Have your phone number, location, operating hours, and product catalogue easily available by mobile phone, to ensure you are not driving traffic to competitors.
Leverage what you have got: If you are already using an ecommerce site like Magento, Prestashop or Drupal, we suggest opting for mobile and web apps that can connect directly with these platforms. Learn more about AIRTAG’s ecommerce integration features.
Customize rather than build: For small to medium sized retail chains, that want their own mobile app or wallet, we recommend using customizable white label solutions rather than building a mobile wallet application from scratch. Building is incredibly time consuming, costly and requires very detailed technical management. You are better off customizing a solution which will save time, money and in the end headaches. Learn more about the benefits of white label wallet solutions.
Most importantly, many retailers have seen mobile as a real opportunity to increase sales, raise the frequency of in-store visits, and build strong customer relationships to foster brand awareness and visibility. We encourage all retailers to think of mobile in a similar way – as a crucial and growing, business opportunity.
Article by AIRTAG, originally appeared on Business2Community
Read our mobile shopping Case Study’s to learn more
The Wallets Big Digital Transformation
May 23rd
A couple of years back, almost everyone thought of a wallet as a human accessory used for storing the daily essentials. Fast forward to now and the wallet has mobilized and is quickly becoming the newest Smartphone trend. A quickly evolving technology trend, with many different players, doesn’t always make for user friendly understanding. So, here’s our GO, at doing some user friendly mobile wallet simplification.
Mobile Wallets, putting it simply, are apps that have payment functionalities. Most wallets right now incorporate online payments which could mean; credit card, 1 click, Digital Wallets (like PayPal), prepaid, gifting etc. The idea behind a mobile wallet is simple, but the lines are continually being blurred between apps and wallets. While payments remain the core differentiator between a wallet and an app, from our perspective, wallets need to include features beyond 
payments to add benefits to the customer journey and to help drive consumer adoption.
An example: Retailer Mobile Wallet: Retailers, like KFC, Starbucks and McDonald’s, have been quick to define a mobile wallet strategy, and as a result are becoming big influencers in the eco-system. Retailer wallets, in addition to other features, enable shoppers to make purchases via mobile phone by means of credit card, 1 click, digital wallets like PayPal, prepaid or gift cards. Retailer wallets have a huge advantage, because the value proposition is very clear. If a retailer wallet can improve the customer journey, and bring together all of a retailers value added services such as fast ordering, loyalty, couponing, in a more organized way, then consumers will be quick in their adoption.
Digital wallets are mobile wallets that enable users to make 1 click payments via mobile phone; because the user’s card information has already been stored securely in the cloud. This is a more convenient payment means via mobile phone, because the user only needs to enter their credit card information once, rather than needing to type card details every time. It could be possible that a mobile wallet actually incorporates a Digital Wallet, such as PayPal, MasterPass or V.me as a payment means.
An example: MasterPass Digital Wallet: MasterCard’s MasterPass aggregates cards into the cloud, so that consumers no longer need to enter their credit card credentials and billing information every time they want to make a purchase online. In order for this to be a viable payment method, retailers and online merchants need to add the Master Pass API to their site or mobile wallet, meaning they need to add the “Buy with Master Pass” button, so that shoppers can have the option to pay with MasterPass; like choosing to pay with any other payment option: MasterCard, Visa or PayPal etc.
When it comes to wallets, each of the key players in the eco-system; retailers, financial institutions, MNO’s, technology providers, cell phone manufacturers and payment providers, are going to have a very different strategy and offering. For example a retailers mobile wallet which begins with a customer journey is going to have a different infrastructure from a financial institutions whose business core is payments. The key for each however, will be to find a way to bring something uniquely valuable to end users to incentivize the shift from physical to digital; and bringing that value is exactly where AIRTAG fits in.
Learn more about the KFC Mobile Wallet
Learn more about the MasterPass Digital Wallet
Don’t forget to join the Mobile Shopping conversation on Twitter.
Meet AIRTAG at the 2013 Mobile World Congress, stand 7A57
Feb 19th
This years, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 25-28, will focus on, “The New Mobile Horizon,” showcasing the imminent ways mobile is continuing to enhance all of our lives. By the end of this year alone there will
be more than 15 billion connected devices, out-numbering the world’s population. The mobile phone is re-shaping the world as we know it, and becoming ubiquitous to the way that we connect, interact and live. AIRTAG will attend this year’s MWC to connect with other industry leaders and other players in the mobile commerce eco-system to share our experience in Mobile Shopping innovations that are helping to re-invent the consumer experience of going shopping, making purchases and paying. Our demos this year are focused on continuing to streamline the user experience with the introduction of NFC technology into existing customer journeys. AIRTAG’s MWC demos for this year, will include:
GoMcDo: now live in 60+ McDonald’s France locations. GoMcDo enables users to order and pay ahead for McDonald’s products, check-in on the unattended “Easy Check In” Kiosk to pick up an order, and then skip the line. We will be demo’ing this solution with NFC check-in capabilities to show a further simplified user experience.
McDonald’s iPad ordering: A solution that helps McCafé (The coffee chain branch of McDonald’s) baristas take customer orders by iPad directly at the table.
AIRPASS: AIRTAG’s comprehensive customized white label mobile wallet solution, enabling retailers, financial institutions and MNO’s to deliver self branded mobile wallets with NFC payment capabilities. AIRPASS will be demo’d at MWC with the inclusion of mobile commerce features: McDonald’s fast ordering and Loyalty program integration.
AIRSHOP Loyalty: An innovative Loyalty solution for processing Mobile & NFC Loyalty cards directly at the POS giving shoppers ‘real-time’ access to rewards balance updates. Shoppers have the ability to choose when and where to burn their rewards in ‘real-time’.
We hope to see you at the MWC 2013! If you are interested in meeting us on the road, contact us here to make arrangements prior to the show.
Lear more about the Mobile World Congress.
AIRTAG Thoughts on NFC and How We Plan on Converting the Naysayers
Dec 17th
“The brightest star in the retail sky this year was mobile commerce,” said Mickey Alam Khan, editor in chief of Mobile Commerce Daily and Mobile Marketer, New York. This holiday season has proved more than 
ever that Mobile Commerce is here to stay. Although NFC has not experienced the same boom yet, we at AIRTAG know that NFC is the direction in which we are moving. Yet, it may be even 5 years or more before, “NFC accounts for the majority of payments.” (Jérémie Leroyer on Mobile N Apps) AIRTAG’s CEO, Jérémie Leroyer had a recent opportunity to share the AIRTAG perspective on NFC with Heather Lockenson of Mashable on Whether or not it is worth it to build an NFC app right now. “NFC is really, so far the only technology available on Smartphones that can secure a transaction,” said Jérémie Leroyer to Mashable. “NFC will become the main technology to perform transactions in the future.” Read the full article on Mashable More >
Have you met the AIRTAG Kit?
Dec 4th
Everyone at AIRTAG has been very excited about the launch of the AIRTAG Kit. Today, we are reminding everyone of this unique set of tools, with the official launch of the AIRTAG Kit in France. The AIRTAG Kit is a fastand easy way to 
develop a MasterCard PayPass Wallet Application using MasterCard’s recently released Mobile User Interface Software Development Kit (MMPP UI SDK) now available free for download via the MasterCard Developer Zone. The AIRTAG Kit contains the necessary hardware, tools and support to successfully complete your PayPass Wallet App development. It’s cost effective, easy to use and simplifies the MasterCard certification process.
What’s in the Kit? The Kit includes, the latest generation NFC Samsung Galaxy S3 with 3 pre-installed white label apps including a wallet, a USB Contactless Card Reader, 5 UICC samples, 2 demo tags, and a 1 year membership to the Developer Program. The Developer Program provides the ability to ask our own AIRTAG developers additional questions, support for issues you may have with the UI SDK or the AIRTAG Kit, additional resources; user guides for the MMPP UI SDK and the AIRTAG Kit, tutorials, manuals, payment scheme support and support for additional Smartphone platforms as they become available. These resources provided in the Developer Program are used by our own AIRTAG developers to build mobile payment & wallet apps. Where else would you be able to get ongoing support from a group of NFC Mobile Payment experts at such a low cost? More >
AIRTAG McDonald’s collaboration GoMcDo, takes home Award
Nov 16th
The yearly held MAPIC awards seek to pay tribute to “excellence, innovation and creativity” in retail. The 2012 MAPIC awards winners were announced on November 15 at the Martinez Hotel in
Cannes and we are very happy to announce that our partner McDonald’s has succeeded to win for “Best Multi-Channel Strategy,” category with the GoMcDo solution. AIRTAG has been working together with McDonald’s on the GoMcDo project since 2010. The GoMcDo service now live in 55 restaurants, enables shoppers to order and pay in advance for their favorite products. The solution includes; a mobile application, online web service and the NFC compatible “easy check in.” When customers get to the restaurant, they just scan their Smartphone or type in their order number on the “Easy Check-In” Kiosk to instantly re-call the order. GoMcDo users then they get to #skiptheline to pick up the order. GoMcDo was the first brand app in France and is revolutionizing the ordering experience in fast food retail. The continued innovation of GoMcDo advanced features including geolocation, an in-app player to watch feature film trailers and most recently Passbook integration, continue to McDonald’s leading the way for innovation.
Way to go GoMcDo!
Learn more about GoMcDo advanced features
Learn more about the MAPIC awards
AIRTAG thoughts on the benefits of online NFC payments
Nov 14th
A recent statement that caught the AIRTAG teams attention was MasterCard’s announcement last week of a new partnership with ING to offer online payments as part of the PayPass based platform 
in the Netherlands. PayPass more than a service but a platform, includes an online payment system, branded services and an API giving developers a tool to integrate PayPass into many different systems. MasterCard’s and ING’s PayPass online payments will offer shoppers enhanced security, the ability to apply coupons and vouchers to their purchases and receive digital receipts. According to a new study by AOL and BBDO 40% of purchases from Smartphone devices occur from home, the couch or anywhere else. Now MasterCard will offer those shoppers an even easier way to pay from anywhere. With PayPass online payments, there are two possible Customer Journeys;
Customer Journey #1: Merchandise selected, Payment method selected, Shipping details are entered and Pin is entered (The phone will supply EMV compliant cryptogram to communicate directly with the retailers payment terminal)
Customer Journey # 2: Shopping is started on a tablet, Products selected, Billing information entered, QR Code is sent. The user would then tap their Smartphone on the tablet to make the payment, connecting the PayPass app directly with the merchants shopping cart
This new pilot is part of MasterCard’s initiative to offer “converged payments experiences, in-store, online or a mobile device.” (MasterCard Press Release) With the approach of the holidays consumers now more than ever are mobile shopping and showrooming for convenience and to maximize savings. It’s great to see MasterCard proactively responding to consumer behavior changes by offering easier ways to pay when Mobile Shopping both in-store or anywhere else.
Read the full MasterCard Press Release here
AIRTAG is happy to announce the launch of the AIRTAG Kit.
Oct 18th
AIRTAG is very excited to have announced yesterday, the launch of the AIRTAG Kit; a set of smart tools designed to make the deployment of NFC Mobile Payment applications easier and more accessible than ever. We have been working together with MasterCard for more than a year with a goal of providing something truly relevant and useful in today’s Mobile Payment marketplace. The AIRTAG Kit, is meant to be used alongside MasterCard’s recently released Mobile User Interface Software Development Kit (MMPP UI SDK), and together they are the best way to develop your Mobile PayPass™ app.
What exactly is in the AIRTAG Kit?
The Kit includes, the latest generation NFC Samsung Galaxy S3 with 3 pre-installed white label apps including a wallet, a USB Contactless Card Reader, 5 UICC samples, 2 demo tags, and a 1 year membership to the Developer Program.
Tell me more about the Developer Program?
First, let’s take a minute to introduce the AIRTAG team. The technical geniuses behind the operations at AIRTAG HQ includes 50+ experts in NFC, mobile app development, mobile marketing and mobile engineering. They develop Mobile applications, online platforms and NFC in-store readers and devices for brands like McDonald’s, MasterCard, Carrefour, Reebok, Dior, Casino, G20, Orange, NRJ Mobile and many others. A team with more than 6 years of experience. They are as expert in the field as it gets.
Through the Developer Program included in the AIRTAG Kit, you will have the ability to ask our own AIRTAG developers your additional questions in the AIRTAG Kit forum and get support for issues you may have with the UI SDK or the AIRTAG Kit. The Developer Program also provides additional resources; user guides for the MMPP UI SDK and the AIRTAG Kit, tutorials, manuals, payment scheme support and support for additional Smartphone platforms as they become available. These resources provided in the Developer Program are used by our own AIRTAG developers to build mobile payment apps. Where else would you be able to get ongoing support from a group of NFC Mobile Payment experts at such a low cost?
AIRTAG’s CEO and Co-founder Jérémie Leroyer had a few words to share with Venture Beat’s journalist John Koetsier, on the AIRTAG Kit and our ongoing partnership with MasterCard. “The Airtag kit is the second part of our partnership with MasterCard, and contains all of the hardware and software needed to build and test PayPass apps, including resources for the developer community.”
The AIRTAG team would be very happy to answer any additional questions that you may have, so please get in touch, by visiting www.airtagkit.com or by following us on Twitter: @airtag
Learn more about MasterCard’s Mobile UI SDK
What is Possible with Mobile Shopping: Some Words from Zipcar’s CEO
Oct 11th
The Mobile is undoubtedly becoming the preferred method for purchasing. In fact, almost half of the US population shopped by Mobile Phone in June. And according 
to Juniper research that number is set to only increase by about 50% in the next two years. An expected 580 million people will be shopping by Mobile phone by 2014 with mobile transactions are expected to total more than 730 billion by 2017; a 25% yearly increase from now until then.
These type of facts are proof that we are seeing a revolution in the way that people find, order and pay for products & services. As we witness the shift to the era of the Mobile Shopper, more companies are securing their mobile first strategy. Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith inspires us with his comment at this year’s Mobilecon about the changes in consumer behavior the company has seen in the last eighteen months from, internet to mainly mobile use.
“Consumers want mobile applications, they want social media as part of their experience,” something the company has been tapping into for the last year.
Griffith is focused on the capability the mobile has, which a computer simply does not, “the ability to reach customers whenever and wherever.” That possibility alone has led the company to plan on intensely moving towards a fully Mobile Zipcar experience. Zipcar future innovations will move beyond just the ability to reserve, and use the mobile to unlock and start a Zipcar, to a completely enhanced in-car driving experience. The Mobile device will become an ‘in car assistant’ to help navigate, plan an itinerary, build an iTunes playlist and provide information about the car.
Griffith’s insights feed into the AIRTAG vision of “Mobile possibilities,” a possibility which is backed by concrete facts of the steady inclination of Mobile Shoppers. The last months at AIRTAG have seen our innovations direct much of a focus on the idea of the “anytime and anywhere,” user experience. Our Mobile solutions, for partners like McDonald’s and Carrefour have been about disrupting the traditional shopping experience so users are able to do everyday things, at their own discretion, from when and where they want.
Obviously penetration in the retail environment is a longer process then let’s say for a platform like Zipcar; which has only ever entailed online use. But, it is clear that more people are Shopping by Mobile because it proves to be quite simply; easier and better. Between now and 2014, we at AIRTAG look forward to continually bringing new innovations to our solutions and exploring all of the possible in Mobile Shopping.
Learn more about AIRTAG’s Mobile Shopping Solutions