Modern-day payment solutions have made it possible for small-to-medium businesses and, more prominently, informal vendors to easily accept cards as payment. It’s also become increasingly important as an access point, considering a COVID-19 stricken world of consumers prefer using cards in lieu of cash.
Visa, the financial services company, has announced that it’s debuting a new feature that could turn a normal smartphone into a point-of-sale (POS) terminal without much hassle. It’s called “tap to phone” — a brand new digital payment service, and launches in South Africa today.
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At this stage, the functionality is only available on Android devices — which makes sense in a country like South Africa where Android’s market penetration far exceeds Apple’s.
Visa vis payments
Visa’s new digital payment service will allow vendors to easily and quickly access their digital finances and assets at the tap of a button. They’ll also have the ability to quickly and seamlessly take payments, no matter where they find themselves.
Tap-to-pay has quickly become one of the main methods of payment across a variety of industries and retail spaces. Investing in a payment terminal that accepts tap-to-pay can be an expensive and time-consuming experience. Now vendors can sign up to Visa’s tap to phone feature and manage their payments through their mobile phone.
The feature makes use of the phone’s existing near-field communication (NFC) chip that accepts any NFC-related comms from external sources. Customers will need access to an NFC-enabled payment method through their bank to use the feature. But that’s easy enough to sort out.