How did you get involved in the Mobile Payment and Loyalty Industry?
nanoPay was founded in 2012 to focus on the cryptocurrency industry. When evaluating new payment products and services developing in the market, it became clear that many new and existing players were creating solutions without taking the need of the merchants into consideration.
Recently merchants have seen the cost of payment processing grow, while they continue struggle with fundamental business problems like how to reach more customers and turn them into frequent shoppers with increasing basket sizes.
We quickly realized an opportunity to build a payments and loyalty platform to reduce the cost and complexity of processing payments, while enabling merchants to capture key consumer data to power personalized and relevant interactions with customers.
Do you see breaches in mobile applications like the recent Starbucks breach as a threat or opportunity for your company?
It appears that the Starbuck’s breach was in fact not a breach of system, but rather a case of identity fraud. Attackers were able to hijack consumers’ Starbucks accounts due to poor passwords and top-up gift cards from credit cards on file.
We think the recent issues surrounding Starbucks’ mobile payment app simply show how quickly hackers are evolving their strategy as mobile payments become more prevalent. These attacks highlight that even the largest brands with significant resources at their disposal are vulnerable if their systems are not properly secured.
To combat breaches, nanoPay has built a platform combining identity, loyalty and payment information in secure, single-use tokens to process transactions in store, online and over the phone. The platform uses bank-grade security and has been hardened to limit the exposure for merchants in the case of an attack.
How do you see the industry evolving in the next five years?
The payments industry will change dramatically over the next five years. Here are some certainties that we know will shape the future of the industry:
1.Consumer adoption of mobile payments will increase
2. Merchant acceptance of mobile payments will increase
3. Transaction security will increase, causing fraud rates to fall
4. The cost associated with transactions will decrease
We believe companies that focus on reducing the cost of the transaction can do this only by making transactions significantly more secure. This is also a critical requirement for broad consumer adoption. When merchants are able to deliver a secure and convenient payment solution to their customers that delivers real value, change in the industry will be rapid.
What is the number one problem that faces the mobile payment and loyalty industry?
The number one problem we think the mobile payments and loyalty industry is facing is the complexity and cost for merchants to integrate new payment technologies with their existing point of sale and payments infrastructure. While many merchants are reluctant to make the investment, consumer demand for mobile payments is growing. This will eventually cause a tipping point that will reward the early merchant adopters.
What does nanoPay do to help eliminate that problem?
nanoPay eliminates this problem by providing merchants with an open API integration into the nanoPay platform. Merchants don’t have to rip out and replace their existing infrastructure, and an SDK is available that makes it easy for developers to enable existing merchant applications. nanoPay will future proof merchant acceptance as next-generation payment tenders come to market. Merchants will also have access to customer data that allows them to focus on engagement to strengthen relationships with customers.
How does nanoPay attempt to stand out from competitors?
nanoPay has focused on building a platform that delivers tangible value to merchants well beyond payment acceptance. With nanoPay, the checkout experience is streamlined and ensures merchants have access to rich customer data throughout the shopping lifecycle.
By combining customer identity, loyalty and payment into a single-use token, transactions are secure and fraud risk is greatly reduced. In addition, merchants can offer their customers an ability to control what personal information they share, without sacrificing the personalized and relevant offers they love. Ultimately, merchants can focus on developing strong relationships with their customers through nanoPay.
