Google Pay Smart Tap Hits The POS

To help shoppers use gift cards, coupons and loyalty rewards when paying with their mobile phones, Ingenico Group has made Google Pay Smart Tap available on its point of sale (POS) systems in the U.K. Ingenico made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress, the company said in a press release.

By holding a phone to Ingenico’s NFC-enabled POS terminals, consumers can transmit loyalty and reward information stored in their Google Pay accounts, and can then apply it to transactions.

Ingenico said merchants of all sizes are able to increase the use of loyalty programs and provide a faster, more seamless customer experience through Google Pay Smart Tap. The U.K. integration is the first step in its international deployment.

“We are pleased to enhance consumer experience at the point of sale with Google Pay Smart Tap,” Michel Léger, EVP of innovation for Ingenico Group, said in a statement. “We are convinced of its relevance for merchants as it reduces the complexity of managing loyalty programmes. This illustrates our commitment to providing ever more value for merchants. We are excited to start integrating Google Pay Smart Tap in the U.K., as a first step in an international deployment.”

Pali Bhat, VP of product management for payments at Google, said the company is looking forward to the implementation of the technology. “We’re excited to work with Ingenico to enable brick-and-mortar merchants of all sizes to make payments smarter and more seamless for their mobile-connected customers,” Bhat said.

In addition, the company plans to announce two new solutions this week, including a new point of sale (POS) platform and PIN on glass technology. For example, Axium, Ingenico’s open Android POS, is built on its Telium Tetra operating system to converge business and payment. With Axium, acquirers can differentiate their offerings to small merchants and increase revenue by supporting new payment methods and providing cross-channel services based on tokenization.

And Ingenico has developed a payment solution for micro-merchants based on PIN on glass technology. Created in collaboration with MYPINPAD, the offering will extend card acceptance among micro-merchants while providing data security.