Samsung's mobile payment system, Samsung Pay, now supports loyalty cards in the U.S.
Samsung initially launched Samsung Pay in Korea in August 2015 followed by the U.S. in September of the same year. Since then, many financial institutions have joined the service. On May 18, Samsung confirmed that Samsung Pay now supports all loyalty cards and retail membership cards in the U.S.
"Samsung Pay — the most widely accepted mobile payment system — is giving U.S. users another way to slim down their physical wallets with the support of membership features. Samsung Pay users now have easy, direct access to merchant membership and loyalty cards to receive savings, rewards and other offers-all on their supported Samsung Galaxy smartphone," said Samsung.
Samsung Pay users will now be able to store and upload loyalty cards or merchant membership cards from grocery stores, gyms, drug stores and other retailers. The latest membership feature will also allow users to store personal identification and insurance cards.
Using loyalty or membership cards is also very simple. Customers have to launch the Samsung Pay app and then select a card. The barcode will be scanned and the payment confirmed when a user takes a compatible phone at a merchant's scanner.
Nana Murugesan, the VP of Strategy and Operations for Samsung Electronics America, said the introduction of the latest feature will make shopping with loyalty and membership cards even easier.
Not all Samsung smartphones are compatible with Samsung Pay. Only select Samsung devices including Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 active, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge support Samsung Pay. It is highly likely that most of the next-generation Samsung smartphones will be compatible with Samsung Pay.
Trends In Mobile Payment
The growth of mobile payment services is imminent. An International Data Corporation (IDC) report predicts massive worldwide growth of mobile payment services by 2020.
"Consumers are becoming more dependent upon their mobile devices including using them to search, shop, and pay. As consumers' reliance on smartphones grows, as well as their level of trust that the devices are safe and secure, so will their use of mobile devices to complete transactions. The necessary pieces to spur consumer adoption of mobile payments are finally in place," said James Wester, research director, Worldwide Payment Strategies at IDC Financial Insights.
Samsung mobile device owners will be happy with the latest announcement from the company, but it is worth noting that the service is slightly late as rivals such as Apple Pay and Android Pay already offer support for loyalty cards.
Nevertheless, Samsung Pay is expected to spike competition among rivals and grab a significant share of the mobile payment service market.
