First Data Rolls Out Barcode-Based Mobile Couponing

First Data Corp. is rolling out a mobile-coupon program for merchants called mVoucher that uses 2-D barcodes and text messages, the Atlanta-based processor announced March 22 at the International CTIA Wireless convention in Orlando.

The service builds on the company’s efforts to strengthen its contactless-payments strategy.

It provides “the ability for a consumer to experience that connected commerce kind of thing,” says Dom Morea, First Data’s senior vice president for division manager for advanced solutions and innovation. “What is happening here with a mobile voucher is that a merchant can deliver value, which a consumer can redeem at a point of sale.”

Several national retailers, including fast-food restaurants, have signed on to use the technology, Morea says. Merchants also may ask their customers to register to receive coupons through email or text message.

The user presents either a 16-digit code or scans a barcode at a retailer’s point-of-sale terminal to redeem an offer. The system also includes options for smartphone applications that enable customers to check gift card balances and look for additional loyalty rewards. Consumers also may use the mVoucher technology to refill a virtual reloadable account, Morea says.

First Data’s announcement comes on the heels of other successful mobile payment applications that use digital barcodes, such as Starbucks Corp.’s smartphone app. The app, which uses software from mobile banking vendor mFoundry Inc., enables consumers to pay for purchases by generating a barcode on their mobile phone. The customer presents the phone for scanning, which deducts funds from a Starbucks prepaid card account (see story).

Once Near Field Communication chips, which allow devices to transmit data to each other, become embedded in cell phones, it will only bolster mVoucher’s features, Morea says.

“The timing of this mobile voucher capability is not by mistake,” he says. “It’s that whole intersection of NFC and mobile wallets, which can contain different cards, and the fact that vouchers really represent infrastructure and deliver a range of [payment] types.”

In September, First Data, a unit of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., announced a partnership with SK C&C USA, part of SK C&C Co. Ltd. in South Korea, to develop technology that First Data’s bank clients can use to issue virtual cards that consumers can download to their mobile phones (see story).

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