Back in 2012 when major retailers including 7-Eleven, Best Buy, CVS, Hy-Vee, Lowe's, Publix, Sears Holdings, Target, Walmart and others made public plans to develop a mobile payment system as part of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), expectations for success were high. After all, not only did cooperation from the chains address the hurdle of retailer adoption, it seemed a clear signal that merchants were not pleased with third-party mobile payment options created by banks, telcos and technology companies.
Now comes word from MCX that it is actively engaged in pilot testing and its mobile wallet app known as CurrentC will be ready to launch on a wide scale in 2015.
"CurrentC will offer customers a simpler, faster, secure way to checkout at their favorite merchants," said MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson in a statement. "At full scale, CurrentC will be accepted in more than 110,000 merchants locations across the country, giving consumers unmatched access to their favorite retailers. It will also offer innovative features and instant coupon savings, all stores on the phone and available right at the point-of-sale."
The CurrentC app will be free to consumers and available through Apple's App Store and Google Play. The goal of the app is to expedite customer checkouts by having discount offers and coupons, merchant reward information and payment data available to be processed in a single scan.
CurrentC will work with most smartphones as well as most existing point-of-sale and payment terminals. According to MCX, CurrentC will use a secure paycode and will not require any additional hardware for most merchants.
"The CurrentC Network will provide merchants with unparalleled reach and resources in the mobile payments category," added Mr. Davidson. "It will offer merchants new and exciting channels to engage with customers, strengthen relationships and enjoy more control of transaction data."