eftpos announced it had built its new QR code payments experience infrastructure on schedule, with the first commercial trials to be announced in the coming weeks.
eftpos CEO Stephen Benton said the first stage of QR infrastructure was built in early July and was designed to provide secure and enhanced consumer purchasing and engagement experiences through loyalty, offers, receipts and added security. Testing of the new QR code infrastructure is underway, and end to end testing will be completed when the first merchant is live in August.
“There had been considerable demand to work on various QR solutions with several merchants across different business categories including entertainment, charities, and quick services restaurants, in addition to several FinTech partners, gateways, banks and digital wallet providers,” Mr Benton said.
“It’s exciting to see the build come to life at such pace and experiencing demand beyond initial expectations. It means we can start to bring exciting new commercial applications to market sooner and aim to provide Australians with better, consistent, data-rich, digital payments experiences no matter where they choose to shop – online, on their mobile or at the checkout.”
“There is no doubt that QR codes are now familiar to Australian retailers and consumers because of COVID. We can begin to use that experience and knowledge in new ways that create value through end to end digital wallet payment experiences that are designed here, especially for the local Australian market.”
“The infrastructure itself is focused on building out new experiences beyond payments, addressing some common pain points, including loyalty, redemption, splitting payments and storing digital warranties, and also digital receipts – which is particularly helpful at tax return time,” Mr Benton said.
Using an agile approach, the broader eftpos Group team, leveraging its experience with QR codes in the Australian market, built the eftpos QR infrastructure quickly due to their technical expertise and familiarity with the eftpos network.
Mr Benton said eftpos was looking forward to collaborating with FinTechs and other industry partners to develop uniquely Australian solutions enhancing consumer and retail experiences to flourish in this market and drive greater value to help grow businesses.
While eftpos’ Beem It will be the first integrated QR wallet, eftpos remains wallet and partner agnostic, thus allowing consumers to initiate and transact securely with their preferred digital wallet.
eftpos’ strategy is focused on driving digital competition in Australia and choice for consumers and merchants via an integrated experience. The infrastructure allows merchants to grow their sales with low-cost eftpos QR code acceptance using enriched data and integrated customer loyalty services that can help them upsell in real-time. All by leveraging eftpos’ robust and secure Australian owned network infrastructure.
Also see Small Business Answers guide to eftpos.