Tyrol's Cashless Payment

A "Secure Shopping" smartphone app has been implemented in several branches of supermarket chain MPREIS. Shoppers pay for purchases quickly with the app by entering a PIN code, then pressing the phone screen against the checkout scanner. All that’s required is a Hypo Tirol bank account with online banking capability. Addressing privacy concerns, the company’s patented Secure Pre-Authorisation Technology assures that no sensitive customer or banking data is stored on the phone itself.

Following positive feedback from a small-scale trial, Tyrolean developer Secure Payment Technologies plans to go larger by making it available nation wide.

MPREIS utilises new developments frequently, with all terminals soon to be upgraded to Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Currently more than 60,000 NFC-compatible credit cards are in circulation in Austria, including the Visa Gold Card and Austrian Miles & More Business MasterCard. Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass are recent NFC-equipped cards which need only be scanned to authorise purchases under €25.

Currently in Austria there are 200,000 NFC-enabled smartphones in use and experts believe that in 2013 this number will grow significantly, with more stores upgrading to NFC checkout terminals in response.