34 feature @ mobilenewsmag MobileNewsMagazine www . mobilenewscwp . co . uk
The contactless NFC payment for € 5 in toy shop Dracik was very straightforward
Dracik toy store
More confident now , I next went into Dracik , a toy shop with an impressive selection of Lego .
My purchase came to about € 5 , so again the payment took a matter of seconds and required minimal effort on my part . Both cashiers knew what to do , instructing me with confidence when to place the device on the reader . Another NFC success story .
Having mastered the PIN-less , sub- € 20 method , I decided it was time to make a more extravagant purchase , all in the name of fully testing the application , of course . Following the list Visa had provided me with , I tried luxury cosmetics store L ’ Occitane .
I took several pricey soaps and a soap dish to the counter and the cashier looked slightly sceptical when I motioned I would be paying with my Galaxy S III . I was also concerned – she spent several minutes wrapping my purchases in tissue paper , so if my payment failed it would be embarrassing , and I didn ’ t know the Slovak for ‘ sorry ’.
DECLINED
My fears were confirmed : my payment for € 21 was declined . After two attempts , and making sure I was typing in the correct PIN , I decided to give up and walked out bashfully .
I then tried to top up my summer wardrobe with a blouse from clothing retailer Koton , also on Visa ’ s list .
The transaction came to € 22 so I unlocked my phone , accessed the app , typed in my PIN number and waited for the cashier to give me the nod to place the device on the terminal . She did , but after several seconds of holding my phone to the terminal , my payment was declined .
Confusingly , the payment showed up on the app under a list of ‘ recent transactions ’, with no indication that it had been declined , so I worried I had been charged – Visa later told me I hadn ’ t .
CASH AND CARD ONLY
Eager to successfully complete a transaction for more than € 20 , I headed over to Gant , a shop which was on Visa ’ s list that specialises in luxury towels , dressing gowns and pillowcases .
Having selected a particularly fancy pillowcase costing € 25 , I headed to the counter only to be told the retailer does not accept contactless payments .
After a promising start , it became very hard to find a shop which would accept mobile payments for more than € 20 .
“ After a promising start , it became very hard to find a shop which would process payments of over € 20 ”
30 Stores where NFC payments accepted in shopping centre
2 Stores where NFC payments were unsuccessful
2 Stores where NFC payments were successful
An Apple iPhone 5 with an i-card enabling it to be used at a contactless terminal
I made a final purchase – some treats for the office from chocolate shop Delikatess – before heading back to the hotel to write up my findings .
The store was on Visa ’ s list and my payment of € 11 went smoothly enough , with the first attempt failing because I placed the device on the terminal too soon – users have to wait for the green light – but the second attempt was a success .
The trial was over for now , and I had made three successful purchases , had two payments declined and been turned away by one retailer .
Try , try again
Thankfully , I had been live-blogging the whole time on the Mobile News website – something Visa was only too aware of .
Clearly worried about what I was writing , I was contacted by a member of the Visa team who was keen to find out why I was having problems .
I was called back to Eurovea to meet three members of the Visa team and together we visited L ’ Occitane and Koton – the two shops where my payments were declined .
Our attempt to purchase a top for € 35 in Koton failed , making me very unpopular with store staff and the sneering customers behind . So Visa tried a sub- € 20 transaction , which immediately worked . The company said this probably meant the terminal was not
Bratislava shopping centre Eurovea has 30 NFC-accepting stores , according to Visa Europe . Inset , the Mobile News live blog a Tatra banka one but belonged to a rival bank which didn ’ t offer unlimited contactless payments .
Concerns
Unfortunately , there is no way for a customer – or cashiers – to tell which terminals are compatible with the Tatra banka / O2 SIM , which can make shopping a bit of a guessing game .
The Visa team accompanied me to L ’ Occitane so we could test their theory . While payments of over € 20 were declined , the app worked perfectly when purchasing a cheaper item . If only there was a way of knowing which terminals are Tatra banka ones , customers and store staff could be spared this ‘ trial and error ’ method of payment . Not knowing where I could spend the money , and how much I could spend , was a turn-off .
Conclusion
Visa Europe raised my expectations by describing Slovakia as its “ showcase market ”, which is why I was so disappointed by the limited number of shops where I could make full use of the application .
This is nothing to do with the technology – which , as far as I could tell , is flawless – or the application , which was very easy to use .
It goes back to what Tatra banka said about more banks embracing NFC , which will mean more contactless terminals . Only around 30 shops inside Eurovea were capable of taking contactless payments according to the literature from Visa , and of those only 10 had Tatra terminals and so could accept mobile payments of above € 20 .
This wouldn ’ t necessarily have been a problem if all the shops which offered contactless payments had advertised the fact . Instead , as a shopper I had to ask staff whether they accepted NFC , or linger next to the counter and try to get a look at the terminal to see if it had the contactless symbol .
Once NFC takes off in the UK and my favourite retailers have compatible terminals – and Apple launches an NFC-enabled iPhone – I will start using it . Paying for lunch would be so much quicker , and I am a huge fan of the fact you can view your most recent transactions on the app and keep track of your spending .
But this is still a long way off , and even “ hero market ” Slovakia isn ’ t there yet .
MN 2013-0730 NFC Bratislava . indd 34 24 / 07 / 2013 17:01