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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — More large retail chains have begun piloting the CurrentC secure mobile payment platform from Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) at select stores.
MCX chief executive officer Brian Mooney said Wednesday that Walmart, Sam’s Club, Kmart and Sears and locations around Columbus, Ohio, have made CurrentC available as part of an expanding beta project in that market. Plans call for the beta to include local Exxon, Mobil and Shell gas stations in the coming weeks, he added.
The Columbus beta launched in September. Consumers in Columbus can now use CurrentC at nearly 150 CVS/pharmacy, Giant Eagle, Giant Eagle Market District, Kmart, Sam’s Club, Sears, Target, Walmart, and Wendy’s stores. The MCX consortium, which includes many of the nation’s most popular merchants, expects to soon announce additional retailers for the Columbus beta.
Mooney made the announcement during his keynote at the Electronic Transaction Association’s (ETA) Strategic Leadership Forum.
“Our goal is to deliver real value to consumers, incentivizing them to use and keep using CurrentC,” he told attendees. “By creating the best experience for consumers at every merchant in our network, we think CurrentC can bring consumers and merchants closer together by delivering meaningful and personalized experiences.”
A software-based solution, CurrentC works with most point-of-sale and payment terminals, providing merchants large and small with a cost-effective entry point into mobile payments. CurrentC uses a secure paycode and won’t require additional hardware from most customers or merchants.
For consumers, the CurrentC mobile wallet app can be downloaded at both the Apple App Store and Google Play store and is compatible with leading smartphones. The platform aims to simplify and speed the customer checkout process by applying qualifying offers and coupons, participating merchant rewards, loyalty programs and membership accounts, as well as offering payment options via the consumer’s selected financial account, all with a single scan.
“CurrentC can deliver coupons for particular items and apply merchant incentives in one seamless transaction,” Mooney noted. “By implementing merchant-specific programs, merchants are able to offer incentives or rewards that provide the most value for both merchants and consumers.”
According to MCX, CurrentC provides more secure payment than traditional methods because it stores users’ sensitive financial data in its cloud vault instead of locally on a mobile device. The application also uses a token placeholder to facilitate transactions rather than constantly passing the data between the user, merchant and financial institution, the company noted.
“CurrentC is simple to use, secure, and the folks in Columbus are very accepting,” Mooney added. “As one customer told us, ‘I really like the direction CurrentC is going in. As a mom with four kids in my house, I’m always looking for ways to save — money and time, too. …I think I’ll use CurrentC every day, even though I never considered a wallet in my phone before.’ We are happy to hear this type of feedback and excited to hear even more from consumers about the types of features and experiences they are looking for in a mobile payment platform.”
