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Payments, a retrospective acquirers and brands. Mobile payments have blurred the
Payments, a retrospectiv
lines between online and in-store payments, as growing
numbers of consumers simultaneously shop online and in
stores, sharing their experiences with their social networks
The ve
The very point of sale while deciding whether to buy online or in the store.
ry
point of sale
An expanding array of options has extended payment
transaction life expectancy. Here are some examples:
The bygone era of clicks • Research and buy in-store
• Research and initiate a layaway plan in-store

By Dale S. Laszig • Research on phone, visit store, buy online (show-
rooming)
[Editor's note: As part of our retrospective series, we are reprinting Dale • Research on phone, visit store to see product, buy
Laszig's column on transformation in payment rails and transaction life- on phone
cycles published March 23, 2015, in issue 15:13:02.] • Research online, buy online, have product shipped
here was a time when the word "click" could have to store
aptly described an electronic transaction. The
simple and repetitive sound of a click evokes the • Visit store, comparison shop on phone, order on
T primitive origins of payments. Each transaction Amazon
was like a three-act play, beginning with an authorization • Visit store; comparison shop on phone; buy on
request, followed by an inter-modem exchange and ending phone, store or online
with an approval or decline.
And after the sale, consumers can choose from a range
Payments in those days were open-and-shut, nothing like of payment options; change card type; combine points,
today's fluid, seamless points of commerce. Present day coupons and discounts; and more. Retailers initially pushed
transactions don't always have clearly defined beginnings back against showrooming, concerned that consumers
and endings, don't always originate at the POS, and would use their stores to view products and then buy them
don't always end at checkout. Many don't even use the elsewhere. Target Corp. even produced a unique set of
established payment rails. This article discusses several bar codes to disguise its products, making it difficult for
notable developments shaping payments today. customers to compare retail offerings and prices.
Riding a new type of rails Today, most retailers see that showrooming is driving

Bryan Sory, co-founder and chief executive officer of traffic to their stores and have become more comfortable
Qwyvr LLC, noted the irony of credit cards, the original with the practice. Many encourage consumers to show
cash killers, facing attacks from competing payment them competitive offers so they can match a price or
schemes. "Plastic cards are a dead technology – the world sweeten a deal.
just hasn't realized it yet," he said. "The real problem today Advanced transaction routing
in payments is that data moves at the speed of click, but
value does not." An arrow connecting a POS device to a financial host
used to represent a typical transaction's journey. Dynamic
Sory and his partner, Dave Whitmer, observed that bitcoin currency conversion and optimized gateway routing
and other digital currencies were being commoditized, have made transactions more open-ended and complex.
with little to offer beyond being low-cost replacements Nathan Jackson is vice president of Business Development
for cash and credit. This spurred them to form the Qwyvr in the European region for Zooz Mobile Ltd., a New York-
network, which they described as a digital replacement for based technology provider that connects merchants to
cash that offers real-time gross settlement – a system that multiple payment acquirers and financial institutions. The
does not and will not process cards and moves value at the company's leveraging of advanced analytics can assess
same speed as data. "At Qwyvr, our goal is to hasten the each transaction and route it to the best possible financial
end of plastic through a combination of software, hardware host, Jackson said.
and a unique cash management system," Sory said.
Extended transaction lifecycles He called omnichannel commerce "the big want" driving
payments innovation, as retailers and technology partners
A nano second was once the average life expectancy of a strive to deliver a consistent brand experience to consumers
click. Compare that to the ways in which digital transactions across multiple devices and channels. In this environment,
come alive in the omnichannel world. Each transaction has he foresees an expanded role for gateways and an
the potential to become an interactive conversation, not opportunity for acquirers to become more specialized by
only between a POS device and financial host, but also focusing on specific verticals and incorporating value-
a real-time exchange involving consumers, merchants, added solutions into their product mix.

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