With the contactless offering, customers simply wave their contactless card in front of a secure contactless reader at the point of sale and the transaction is completed speedily. With no signature to check or PIN to enter, merchants can expect faster transactions, shorter lines and happier customers.
"The service offers customers and merchants speed, convenience and an efficient payment solution for low value purchases. The primary benefit for the retailer is getting customers through the point of sale quicker, which translates into serving more customers in less time," says Willie Van Zyl, head of commercial and acquiring at Absa Card.
"There is no additional transaction fee to the retailer as these are treated as normal debit or credit card purchases. Furthermore, it is aligned with global trends in mobile payment where, in future, consumers will be able to tap their mobile phones against these readers to pay for their low value payments."
In order to incentivise merchants, the bank is offering introductory offers that ease the cost-burden of the reader before the cards reach critical mass. The contactless payment solution is ideal for merchant outlets with high volumes of customers where speed of service is essential - in particular, fast food outlets, coffee shops, movie theatres, convenience stores, fuel forecourts, pharmacies and parking lots.
In line with its soon-to-be-released prepaid offering and the launch of several public transport initiatives, the bank is starting to gear up a merchant base to accept this form of contactless payment.
It has imposed certain limits on this contactless payment, which are aligned with the special exemption to control and manage these cards. Tap-and-go transactions are limited to R200 per transaction and users will be able to load a maximum of R1 500 on the card at any time. The total monthly value load limitation is R3 000 per month.
"We are pioneering this new way to pay as part of making payments simpler for consumers, thereby making their lives easier. We have a roadmap of innovations that will change the way consumers purchase, hear about offers, redeem vouchers and coupons as well as make payments," concludes Van Zyl.
