Google keeps leading the way with innovative ideas and this Thursday they have announced their latest move which is called Google Wallet and Google Offers. Their VP of Commerce Stephanie Tilenius made the announcement and stated that their goal is to combine all parts of retail shopping in order to improve the shopping experience of the future.
Many shoppers will be happy to know that Google has made sure to include coupons and discounts in this new service. The shoppers will see the coupons whenever they purchase things through their phone. Your phone will be able to detect what items you have purchased before and will pop up coupons in the future for those same items. Or if you are inside a store it will also detect it and show it to you, you will be able to proceed to the cashier and scan your phone through a designated terminal to apply the coupon and charge your card. In the future the store receipts will be sent to your mobile phone.
They have announced that currently only one phone is able to run this service and that is Nexus S which is the latest Android phone. The phone has an NFC chip which stands for ‘near-field communication’ and this technology allows data to be sent over between two devices very close to each other. The phone will be able to actually make payments through the PayPass system by MasterCard. They plan to release all future Android phones with NCF technology.
Thankfully summer is just around the corner and that’s when Google Wallet will be made available officially. However Google is running trials in different parts of the country such as the Big Apple NYC and San Francisco in the West Coast. They plan to spread over to different cities in the next couple of weeks.
Several stores have already signed up to participate in the trials and some of them are Toys “R” Us, Macy’s, and Bloomingdale’s just to name a few. And as payment processing partners Google has reached out to FirstData, Sprint, Citi, and MasterCard.
Telenius also stated that currently Google Wallet can only support MasterCard and Citi along with a prepaid card however they do have plans to incorporate more cards in the near future. The plan is for the user to be able to upload their credit card onto the phone which then will be used for their shopping. Google has stated that they consider that it is a lot more secure to carry your card on your phone than carrying the actual wallet due to the fact that the phone is protected with passwords and encryptions.
In addition, Google Offers is a service that will be delivering offers to the customers on a daily basis via an e-mail or directly to a mobile phone. Just like Google Wallet, the user can show or scan their phone at the cashier terminal. Google plans to include boarding passes and tickets in the near future.
