Visa is rolling out Visa Tap To Phone in over 15 markets.
The plan is then to expand in the US and accelerate global product growth in the rest of the world via more than 35 new partners, including Visa Ready for Tap to Phone partners. The expansion plans follow Visa Tap to Phone being piloted over the past year.
Tap to Phone enables businesses to accept contactless payments on any NFC-enabled android device with no need for additional hardware. It transforms current generation Android smartphones, or tablets, into contactless, or tap to pay, software-based point of sale (softPOS) terminals without additional hardware.
The backdrop said Visa is that as the world increasingly turns to digital payments amidst COVID-19 and that a simple mobile app can help millions of sellers worldwide quickly and securely accept contactless payments, while improving the checkout experience for customers.
The number of sellers using Tap to Phone has grown by 200% over the past year and is now live in numerous countries across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Recent launches for Tap to Phone include Belarus, Malaysia, Peru, Russia and South Africa.
Upcoming launches are planned in Brazil, Italy and the UK.
Visa reckons that there are two billion Android devices globally which could be transformed to payment acceptance machines.
“It was just five years ago when Visa set out to enable virtually any IoT or mobile device to make payments and now, we are enabling many of those same devices to accept payments in a very simple way with Visa Tap to Phone,” said Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa. “The opportunity, especially in a region like Asia Pacific where mobile-first is a way of life, is enormous. Visa Tap to Phone could have a profound impact on the shopping experience as more and more businesses go digital.”
Tapping to pay, or contactless payments, is growing rapidly in the COVID-19 era. Visa has seen tap to pay payments grow by 40% year-over-year. In a recent Visa survey, nearly half of consumers (48%) said they would not shop at a store that offers only payment methods requiring contact with a cashier, or shared machine like a card reader, making it critical for businesses to expand their acceptance methods beyond cash.
