Merchants in Italy Can Now Process Payments Using iPhones

Payment service providers Nexi, Adyen and Stripe are enabling merchants in Italy to process payments using their iPhones.

Nexi already offered business owners this option through the NexiSoftPOS application, Reuters said in a Wednesday (May 29) report. However, the app only worked on Android operating systems. The report noted that Nexi is “Europe’s biggest payments group by volume of transactions processed.”

Adyen, which is based in the Netherlands, also announced the launch of the Tap to Pay service, while Milanese luxury brand Prada said it would offer it in its shops, beginning with Italy’s fashion capital, Reuters said.

At the same time, Stripe also said it was set to offer merchants this new feature.

“Tap to Pay on iPhone means Italian companies can now accept contactless payments with a device a lot of us already carry in our pockets,” said Ruhi Dang, Stripe’s product manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, according to the report.

Apple’s tap-to-pay option on its iPhones uses near-field communication to enable wireless payments.

With merchants now empowered to process payments using their smartphones, they are able to save on hardware costs by not having to pay for additional equipment, Reuters noted.

The technology may allow business owners faster access to funds, which may have an outsized impact on their success, particularly for small businesses.

Instant payments will “improve the quality and speed of commerce and the overall cash flow of one half of our economy” as smaller firms benefit, Enigma Technologies Co-Founder and CEO Hicham Oudghiri told PYMNTS in December.

By leveraging the opportunities that real-time payments offer, small businesses can reach new levels of working capital efficiency and drive greater customer satisfaction, PYMNTS noted last week as it examined the impact of faster payments on small businesses.

As PYMNTS Intelligence has discovered, smaller businesses tend to face a greater uncertainty around payments. Faster payments offer more certainty than traditional, delay-filled payment methods that often trouble small business owners.

In addition, brick-and-mortar businesses are at higher risk of closure compared to companies that rely on an omnichannel strategy or that use primarily on eCommerce channels, PYMNTS Intelligence has found.