Mobile wallets

Now that the holiday sales rush is over, merchants are starting to look more closely at game-changing sales models like Amazon Go as models to reinvent their own point of sale.

After testing mobile order-and-pay at Tim Hortons cafes and Burger King restaurants for nearly two months, Restaurant Brands International is preparing to launch the app throughout Canada in the spring.

As technology evolves, payment capabilities become more deeply embedded, becoming practically invisible to the end user. This concept works already in specific use cases such as Uber, and many companies have yearned to implement a hands-free payment experience for all of retail.

Traditional brick & mortar stores must upgrade and innovate their experiences to again become destinations in their own right in order to lure back spoiled online shoppers.

People are warming up to mobile payment apps like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, but concerns over fraud and ID theft could still pose headwinds.

The chip card migration took up a lot of merchants' energy over the past couple of years. As chip cards mature, merchants can and should turn to the variety of new payment options in the year ahead.

The third party wallets and mobile point of sale systems are advancing, making the next year the right time for merchants to work on strategies to improve user experience at checkout.

Target Corp. has demonstrated payments innovation in many ways, including participating in an early pilot of mobile payments with Starbucks, and driving its payments volume to lower-cost debit rails via its Red Card.

The parent of Alipay is also investigating uses for biometrics and artificial intelligence.

Rather than killing off the plastic card, smartphones are strengthening it. Many issuers' card accounts are more valuable than ever, with perks made possible only through the development of smartphone apps.