5 things you need to know about Samsung mobile pay
The following is a guest post (contributed article) by John Rampton, founder and CEO, Due.
Samsung Mobile Pay is becoming one of the most popular ways to pay for goods and services across the world. While Apple Pay has been around the longest, Samsung Pay has many reasons as to why that it could turn out to be the real disruptor in the digital wallet space for in-person payments. With its popularity on the rise, here are 5 things you need to know about Samsung Mobile Pay in order to improve your merchant services strategy:
- Samsung Pay is literally taking over the world. It is currently available on all major carrier networks in the U.S. and is rapidly adding countries around the world, including countries on all continents with more being added in 2017 and beyond. That’s because Samsung Pay has formed partnerships with numerous financial institutions around the world, all the major credit card brands, and point-of-sale equipment companies plus made its technology work with both legacy and EMV readers. Samsung is also exploring how it can add Samsung Pay to its virtual reality headsets in the near future to further expand usage as a safe way to make payments.
- Samsung Pay will work on all Android phones thanks to the introduction of Samsung Pay Mini. While Samsung Pay already worked on all Samsung phones and devices, including its wearable device known as Samsung Gear, the introduction of Samsung Pay Mini means it c an now work on other Android phones that are not necessarily made by Samsung. This version is only for making online payments. If you plan on making offline payments in stores, then you will still need to have a Samsung phone and the full version of Samsung Mobile Pay. This is because phones not made by Samsung do not support its Magnetic Secure Transactions (MST) hardware that enables complete wireless payments even at legacy payment terminals. It will only be available in South Korea, but there will be plans to release it to other countries in the near future.
- Samsung Pay has a lot of great features that add value and convenience for users. Samsung Pay works for more than just in-store contactless payments. It can also be used to take cash out at ATMs (excluding U.S. ATMs right now) as well as has added new forms of payment, such as gift cards and online payments. Membership and loyalty cards can also be added to Samsung Pay just by scanning the barcode or entering the account information. It also offers its own rewards program called “High Five Referral,” to encourage more people to switch to its service over Android Pay. When a person refers Samsung Pay to friends and family and they add and make their first “qualifying purchase,” that person gets $5 in Samsung Rewards added to their app for up to 30 referrals and $150 in rewards. The reward money can be used at any retailer that takes Visa debit and Samsung Pay. The app will also include regular promotions highlighted as a banner to alert the user to new ways they can use Samsung Pay.
- Samsung Pay supports private label cards. This is another unique aspect to Samsung Pay, which is why the mobile wallet will most likely gain more users than any other service. These cards typically work like lines of credit and have not worked for in-store purchases or to get cash back until Samsung Pay. This opens up significant opportunities to reach more consumers and business owners who may rely on this type of payment card.
- Samsung Pay has its own security software. Known as its Knox security software, it is regarded as one of the best security systems for mobile devices along with its ARM TrustZone. Just like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay has chosen not to store personal account numbers on the user’s device. It uses tokenization to protect credit card information whenever the user makes a purchase. With tokenization, the Samsung Pay handset sends two pieces of data to the payment terminal, including a 16-digit token that represents the credit or debit card number and a one-time code, or cryptogram, that's produced by the phone's encryption key. If a mobile device is lost or stolen, the user can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile tool to lock and disable the device remotely and turn off access to Samsung Pay. Additionally, fingerprint scanners and monthly security patch updates round out what can be considered one of the most comprehensively secure digital wallet tools out there.
With so many cool things available with Samsung Mobile Pay, it's no wonder why more consumers and businesses are adding it to their lives. As a retailer or merchant, you'll want to do more research to understand how Samsung Mobile Pay works and why you should adding mobile payments to your payment acceptance methods.
About the Author
John Rampton is an entrepreneur, investor, online marketing guru, and startup enthusiast. He is the founder of the online invoicing company Due. John is best-known as an entrepreneur and connector. He was recently named #2 on Top 50 Online Influencers in the World by Entrepreneur Magazine and a Blogging Expert by Time. He currently advises several companies in the San Francisco Bay area.