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2018 crystal ball: Amazon has created its own payments ecosystem, which
it intends to roll out in Whole Foods first and at other
Let's have a toast locations later. How does an ISO add value to the merchant
here?
In-car payments

General Motors partnered with Mastercard to enable in-
car payments in conjunction with GM's OnStar network,
using credit or debit cards stored in Mastercard's
Masterpass wallet. While you're driving you can call
your nearest McDonald's and order breakfast, using
coupons and prompts on your dashboard screen, and pay
in advance. You can also order up a parking space or a
special radio program.

I suspect the way this is supposed to work is that you
do all this reading and scanning and decision-making
while parked in your driveway, not while going down the
freeway changing lanes at 75 miles per hour, but I'm pretty
sure this also is not going to happen. In California, where
I live, people routinely say they will call you back when
By Brandes Elitch they get in the car. Driving on the freeway is scary already;
CrossCheck Inc. it demands absolute concentration and unwavering use of
all five senses and all three mirrors.
s we start 2018, I thought it appropriate to
comment on ongoing developments in the The only real value-add I see here is paying for your fuel
payments system. To that end, here are several in advance when you go to the gas station, but even so,
A topics I expect we'll be reading and talking you still have to get out of the car, open the fuel door, and
about in the next 12 months. As you reflect on these, ask insert the pump and replace it, so what's the big deal?
yourself in each case what roles can ISOs and merchant Gas stations have been given a three-year extension for
level salespeople (MLSs) play to add value and earn compliance with chip cards, and the last thing they want
residuals. is another new technology that requires a hardware and
software upgrade. Where is the traditional feet-on-the-
Mobile payments street ISO in this discussion?

Let's face it: in-store proximity mobile payments are The subscription economy
nowhere. A year ago, experts said smartphones would
replace plastic cards at the POS, but this isn't happening The idea here is that consumers prefer to subscribe to
anytime soon. Study after study shows that millennials ongoing services rather than buy products, for example,
are aware they can use Apple Pay, but it isn't important hiring rides over buying a car or music streaming over
to them. Nobody has built a compelling value proposition buying a CD.
for its use.
In this vein, Amazon offers ongoing services in addition to
Mobile payments have worked in some cases, for example, the products people buy, which is why people keep coming
Venmo and Starbucks. But if you have a pouch stuck to the back. Thus, Amazon really knows you as a customer: what
back of your phone that holds a payment card and an ID, you bought, when you bought it, how much you paid, what
it's probably easiest to take out a card and insert it. you are reading about. What other merchants can say
they know their customers that well? To compete, other
Amazon Go retailers need to create similar consumer experiences to
get their customers to keep coming back.
Amazon has been experimenting with transforming the
brick-and-mortar shopping experience and, at the same Hand in hand with this is the sharing/on demand economy,
time, making sure that the payment is charged to your where consumers go online to research a product, and
Amazon account. Amazon Go scans your phone when then log in, buy, or reserve the item, track the status, get
you enter the store and keeps track of your purchases via updates, and facilitate pickup. How does the ISO get paid
cameras and shelf sensors. An algorithm figures out the when the merchant is selling through Amazon or PayPal?
bill.

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