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Walgreens rewards in the Android Pay app. Android devices with fingerprint
scanners can be used to unlock and authorize Android
Android, Apple users Pay and Samsung Pay apps. Android Pay supports near
field communication-enabled phones running Android
D eerfield, Ill-based drugstore chain Walgreens 4.4 KitKat and higher. The free app is available at the
recently embedded Walgreens Balance Google Play Store.
Rewards into Android Pay and Apple Pay
schemes. The mobile loyalty schemes facili- Google Inc. Senior Director of Product Management Pali
tate two-tap checkouts at 8,173 store locations, giving an Bhat said the Android Pay solution is designed to make
estimated 85 million active Balance Rewards members an in-store payments simpler by giving customers instant,
easy, secure and private way to earn and use points. frictionless access to their loyalty cards at checkout, giving
Walgreens customers the ability to "speed through the
Walgreens is a division of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., entire checkout process in as few as two taps with their
a holding company focused on health and wellness. Its Android phones."
ecommerce footprint includes Walgreens.com, drugstore.
com, Beauty.com, SkinStore.com and VisionDirect.com. Mass mobile tech migration
Walgreens launched its Apple Pay and Android Pay
solutions in November 2015 and August 2016, respectively. While being one of the first retailers to directly integrate
Customers checking out with Apple and Android phones its rewards program into Apple Pay and Android Pay may
will no longer need to scan or enter Balance Rewards card give Walgreens a competitive advantage and bragging
information to earn the same benefits offered by credit rights, some users would like to see an even smoother,
and debit cards, the company stated. single-click checkout process. As Blogger Steve Dent wrote
in Engadget, "Now, if they could just get it down to one
Abhi Dhar, Walgreen Co. Senior Vice President and Chief tap, all of our first-world payment issues will be sorted."
Information Officer, said Walgreens is continually looking
for ways to use innovative, forward-thinking technologies Walgreens supports a diversified array of payment
to enhance the customer experience. "We're proud to have methods, including credit, debit, EMV (Europay,
been the first retailer to integrate our loyalty program with Mastercard and Visa) and other mobile wallets, company
the two leading mobile payment providers and to give our representatives noted. Payments analysts expect mobile
customers another channel for greater access, choice and payments and mobile-enabled loyalty programs to
convenience with our loyalty program," he said. eventually overtake traditional plastic credit card usage
in the United States and in Western European countries,
Tap twice and done as retailers become accustomed to people transacting with
smartphones at the POS.
Walgreens stated that Android Pay and Apple Pay apps
can securely store Balance Rewards cards. The first tap of Peter Rojas, co-founder of technology blogs Engadget and
a smartphone will activate a customer's unique reward Gizmodo, said, "I think the biggest change, and one that
card information and balances in real time; the second tap we're already starting to see take shape, is that globally the
will then initiate payment using an embedded credit or majority of Internet usage will be done via a mobile device,
debit card product within the payment app. and for most people the mobile web will be their primary
– if not their only – way of experiencing the Internet."
The Apple version of Walgreens mobile loyalty solution,
with biometric and geolocation capabilities, works on iOS Oracle fails to predict,
versions 9 and higher on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone prevent POS breach
6S, iPhone 6S Plus and Apple Watch.
F ollowing a punishing wave of attacks against
Users can place their finger on Touch ID while tapping their POS systems, forensic experts are working with
iPhones near a contactless reader to activate their rewards merchants and technology companies to patch
account information. Apple Watch users can double-click vulnerabilities and reach out to millions of
a side button, select their Balance Rewards card, and potentially affected business owners and consumers.
display the Apple Watch face to the reader. An optional Security analysts have stated that Oracle Corp.'s Micros
automatic detection setting will alert the iPhone when it POS systems, among others, may have become central
enters a Walgreens store, where it will automatically bring access points for cybercriminals in these attacks.
up the Balance Rewards card at checkout.
The first sign of trouble surfaced Aug. 8, 2016, when Micros,
Android Pay users can also hold their Android devices near the POS division of Oracle, revealed a malware attack
a PIN pad, first to display their reward card information, that may have compromised 300,000 Micros payment
and then to process their payment using a card embedded
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