Visa (NYSE: V) announced on Wednesday after piloting Visa Tap to Phone over the past year, the financial giant is now making the product available in more than 15 markets with plans to expand to the United States 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.
According to Visa, Tap to Phone “transforms” current generation Android smartphones or tablets into contactless, or tap to pay, software-based point of sale (softPOS) terminals without additional hardware.
“As part of Visa’s commitment to digitally-enabled 50 million small and micro businesses, this cost-effective tool helps businesses quickly access the digital economy, prevent lost sales and improve cash flow by accepting contactless payments anywhere, anytime.”
Visa noted that 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, with upcoming launches planned in Brazil, Italy, UAE, UK, and more. While sharing more details about the products development, Mary Kay Bowman, Global Head of Buyer and Seller Solutions at Visa, stated:
“It was just five years ago when Visa set out to enable virtually any IoT or mobile device to make payments and now today, we are enabling many of those same devices to accept payments in a very simple way with Visa Tap to Phone. With billions of phones around the world at the ready, the opportunity that comes with lighting them up as payment acceptance devices is enormous. Visa Tap to Phone could be one of the most profound ways to reinvent the physical shopping experience.”
Visa then added 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 and a recent study confirmed that 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.
