France-based supermarket giant Carrefour and Gemalto leaned on Host Card Emulation
The new app is rolling out first in Spain. The service links Carrefour’s PASS payment cards with the store's mobile app through Gemalto’s cloud-based Allynis Trusted Service Hub via HCE, enabling consumers to pay using an Android smartphone app at any NFC-enabled payment terminal at Carrefour’s stores, the companies said in a Sept. 12 press release.
Consumers who load a digital version of their existing Carrefour PASS payment card to the store’s mobile app and link their Carrefour loyalty card can now get instant credit for loyalty points when making contactless payments, eliminating the need to track points through a separate app, according to the release.
Carrefour has tested the solution at select stores in Spain since early this year. About 2.3 million Spanish consumers have Carrefour payment cards that are accepted at more than 500 Carrefour outlets in Spain, including hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores, the companies said.
“Carrefour is committed to a strategy that marries the physical and digital domains, placing the smartphone at the very head of our customer offer, in the shops and online,” said Frédérick Mazurier, CEO of Market Pay, Carrefour’s banking institution.
The companies eventually plan to expand the HCE solution to Carrefour in other countries in Europe, the companies said.
