MasterCard has partnered with Oracle to grow digital reach (ORCL, MA)

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A new global partnership between MasterCard and software firm Oracle will give Oracle’s clients better access to digital payment solutions, according to an announcement made at Mobile World Congress.

The partnership will focus on in-store experiences, operational efficiency, and cross-channel consistency. Most notably, it will allow for pre-integration, meaning that Oracle users will be able to simply integrate MasterCard digital offerings directly into their existing platforms, MasterCard digital payment products EVP James Anderson told BI Intelligence.

The platform could quickly gain traction in the industry.

• Digital payment offerings are becoming more popular because of the benefits they can provide. Increasing digitization of consumer habits across the board naturally carries over to finance and purchasing behaviors. For example, BI Intelligence expects US mobile order-ahead sales to reach $38 billion by 2020, up from $4 billion in 2015. That benefits businesses, because mobile orders are often larger than traditional orders, which increase sales, giving firms a reason to want to integrate these offerings.   
• But they’re often tough to access, which could give MasterCard a leg up. Historically, enabling some of these offerings could be challenging for merchants, because they had to connect two different platforms — the digital payment offering and the restaurant’s existing software platform. The pre-integration that MasterCard is offering could make access to these services much simpler, which might make the partnership popular among Oracle’s customers and quickly drive up usage.  

And that ultimately benefits MasterCard by allowing it to quickly scale its digital offerings in new sectors. MasterCard has been working to expand Masterpass through things like robust bank partnerships, in order to extend the service to as many users as possible. Now, its likely the firm is focused on merchant partnerships, as part of a move to grow use cases, onboard more clients, and expand usage. Oracle could be a key player in that, thanks to its size, and because, according to Anderson, food and beverage is a major target industry for the wallet. If successful, it’s likely we could see more partnerships like this down the line.

Retailers like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts are winning over consumers with their mobile wallets — apps developed by stores to make it easier for their customers to pay, and to deliver valuable perks. 

And these retailer wallets are leading the overall mobile wallets industry, thanks to their ability to rapidly push out innovative features like rewards programs, coupons, mobile order-ahead, and custom marketing.

This may be surprising considering that retailer mobile wallets can be used only at a specific retailer’s locations; in contrast, popular universal mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay can be used at multiple retailers, as long as users are using the necessary smartphones.

Ayoub Aouad, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on retailer mobile wallets that assesses what makes them so successful and which retailers can most effectively leverage the technology to push sales, traffic, and average ticket size. The report also outlines what makes these mobile wallets attractive, and discusses some of the advancements being made in the payments industry that will affect mobile wallets’ growth rate.

Here are some key takeaways from the report: 

• Retailers with large addressable user bases who are loyal, repeat visitors, will see their mobile wallets continue to be popular with consumers, especially as there continues to be slow merchant adoption of near-field communication (NFC) technology as well as weak offerings by universal mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

• Loyalty programs will be a significant driver in retailer mobile wallet adoption. Companies like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts have been able to leverage their loyalty programs to acquire mobile wallet users, which, in turn, has driven store traffic and conversion rates.

• By leveraging these programs, sales are expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 68%.

• However, adoption will begin to decelerate as a result of increased competition by 2020. As universal mobile wallet players begin to add effective loyalty programs and coupons to their offerings, adoption for retailer-based mobile wallets is likely to slow down because these offerings are their main marketing points. 

In full, the report: 

• Explains what hurdles universal mobile wallets have faced.
• Details what features retailers have adopted into their mobile wallets that have been successful  

• Analyzes the use cases of retailers that have successfully leveraged their mobile wallet offerings to push growth.
• Identifies how universal mobile wallets will eventually slow growth for retailer-based mobile wallets.

 Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you’ll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
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