Tag Archives: Scan Go

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Will Wal-Mart Be the Death of Near-Field Communications?

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By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool

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According to a recent Harris Interactive survey, most consumers feel smartphone payments will eventually replace credit and debit cards and cash for most purchases but it’s likely not going to happen within the next five years.

That bodes well for the long-term outlook for chip makers like NXP Semiconductors and Skyworks Solutions , which are leaders in the field of near-field communications, or NFC. That’s the technology that allows mobile devices to securely communicate with a payment terminal. Wave your NFC-enabled smartphone in front of an NFC-enabled terminal and you can easily make a payment.

Objects are closer than they appear
The interest expressed in the survey is part of the reason behind why NXP feels 2013 is the year that NFC technology takes off. Google has been in the forefront of the issue through its Wallet mobile payment system and Android smartphones like Samsung’s Galaxy have been equipped with NFC chips to take advantage of it wherever it’s available. Indeed, Samsung recently partnered with Visa to provide an NFC platform that financial institutions can trust.

Banks will be able to load payment account information to a secure chip embedded in Samsung devices using Visa’s mobile provisioning service linked to Samsung’s service that creates secure data storage domains for card issuers.

Notably, however, Apple has yet to jump into the fray. Although many watchers had anticipated the iPhone 5 to include an NFC chip, it was not to be, even though it had acquired such capabilities through its AuthenTec acquisition last year. And with Skyworks already a chip supplier for the iPhone, should Apple decide it needs to be a part of the NFC revolution, it has ready access to a key player in the field.

Scanning the horizon
Yet retail king Wal-Mart may be leading the way in killing off the chances of NFC gaining a real foothold. Rather than investing in the expensive new terminal upgrades that would be required to make NFC in its stores a reality, it’s rolling out an iPhone app called Scan & Go that allows consumers to scan and bag their purchases while shopping and simply scan a quick-response pixilated QR code square at the checkout terminal to complete the purchase.

While that may be a means for it to ultimately save money on cashier salaries, it could provide the pathway for other retailers to follow. Wal-Mart is expanding the test program to 200 stores in 14 markets, and though the app is only available for the iPhone, it’s easy to see that (depending upon its success) it could eventually roll out to all 14,000 stores and be available across all smartphone platforms.

Stop & Shop supermarkets have offered a similar app for both iPhones and Android devices for several years, but Wal-Mart’s entry could be the thing that brings it mainstream. Because near-field communications has taken longer than expected to get up and running, just as widespread adoption looks to be within …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Registers Cash Out as Retailers Turn to Mobile Payment Devices

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By The Associated Press

cash register replaced iphone ipad

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Bebeto Matthews/AP A sales clerk at Barney’s New York uses an iPod Touch to help a customer make a purchase, a trend by stores nationwide, which are moving away from clunky registers to mobile devices.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

NEW YORK — Ka-ching! The cash register may be on its final sale.

Stores across the U.S. are ditching the old-fashioned, clunky machines and having salespeople — and even shoppers themselves — ring up sales on smartphones and tablet computers.

Barneys New York, a luxury retailer, this year plans to use iPads or iPod Touch devices for credit and debit card purchases in seven of its nearly two dozen regular-price stores. Urban Outfitters, a teen clothing chain, ordered its last traditional register last fall and plans to go completely mobile one day. And Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is testing a “Scan & Go” app that lets customers scan their items as they shop.

“The traditional cash register is heading toward obsolescence,” said Danielle Vitale, chief operating officer of Barneys New York.

That the cash register is getting the boot is no surprise. The writing has been on the wall for a long time for the iconic machine, which was created in the late 1800s. The register was essential in nearly every retail location by 1915, but it now seems outdated in a world in which smartphones and tablets increasingly are replacing everything from books to ATMs to cameras.

Stores like smartphones and tablets because they take up less floor space than registers and free up cashiers to help customers instead of being tethered to one spot. They also are cheaper: For instance, Apple Inc.’s iPads with accessories like credit card readers can cost a store $1,500, compared with $4,000 for a register. And Americans increasingly want the same speedy service in physical stores that they get from shopping online.

“Consumers want the retailer to bring the register to them,” said Lori Schafer, executive adviser at SAS Institute Inc., which creates software for major retailers.

Faster is Better

J.C. Penney Co. (JCP), a mid-price department-store chain, said the response by customers has been great since it started rolling out iPod Touch devices late last year in its 1,100 stores. The goal is to have one in the hands of every salesperson by May. The company said that about a quarter of purchases at its stores nationwide now come from an iPod Touch. ks

On a recent Thursday afternoon at a Penney store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, Debbie Guastella, 55, marveled after a saleswoman rang up three shirts she was buying on an iPod Touch.

“I think it’s great,” said Guastella, who lives in Huntington, New York. “The faster the better.”

It’s been a long fall for the cash register, which innovated retail …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Smartphones and tablets may spell the death of the cash register

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Ka-ching! The cash register may be on its final sale.

Stores across the country are ditching the old-fashioned, clunky machines and having salespeople — and even shoppers themselves — ring up sales on smartphones and tablet computers.

Barneys New York, a luxury retailer, this year plans to use iPads or iPod Touch devices for credit and debit card purchases in seven of its nearly two dozen regular-price stores. Urban Outfitters, a teen clothing chain, ordered its last traditional register last fall and plans to go completely mobile one day. And Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is testing a “Scan & Go” app that lets customers scan their items as they shop.

“The traditional cash register is heading toward obsolescence,” said Danielle Vitale, chief operating officer of Barneys New York.

That the cash register is getting the boot is no surprise. The writing has been on the wall for a long time for the iconic machine, which was created in the late 1800s. The register was essential in nearly every retail location by 1915, but it now seems outdated in a world in which smartphones and tablets increasingly are replacing everything from books to ATMs to cameras.

Stores like smartphones and tablets because they take up less floor space than registers and free up cashiers to help customers instead of being tethered to one spot. They also are cheaper: For instance, Apple Inc.’s iPads with accessories like credit card readers can cost a store $1,500, compared with $4,000 for a register. And Americans increasingly want the same speedy service in physical stores that they get from shopping online.

“Consumers want the retailer to bring the register to them,” said Lori Schafer, executive adviser at SAS Institute Inc., which creates software for major retailers.

J.C. Penney, a mid-price department-store chain, said the response by customers has been great since it started rolling out iPod Touch devices late last year in its 1,100 stores. The goal is to have one in the hands of every salesperson by May. The company said that about a quarter of purchases at its stores nationwide now come from an iPod Touch.

On a recent Thursday afternoon at a Penney store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, Debbie Guastella, 55, marveled after a saleswoman rang up three shirts she was buying on an iPod Touch.

“I think it’s great,” said Guastella, who lives in Huntington, N.Y. “The faster the better.”

It’s been a long fall for the cash register, which innovated retail as we know it. The first register was invented following the Civil War by a little known saloon owner. Before then, most store owners were in the dark about whether or not they were making a profit, and many suffered since it was easy for sales clerks to steal from the cash drawer unnoticed. But by 1915, cash registers were ubiquitous in stores across the country, with more than 1.5 million sold by then.

More recently, stores have been looking for ways to modernize checkout. Since 2003, self-checkout areas that enable customers to scan and …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News