Implementation Of Pay Wave Technology For Customer Convenience And Efficiency

Warning: Entering or editing data in this journal entry after 2359 hours on 25 August 2017 will result in deduction of marks. Oz Supermarket is a new retail chain that is setup to reduce exit queues at the check out point. It encourages customers to come in, grab what they want and leave the store. To achieve this goal, it has embarked on the following:

• The chain stocks only household, stationery and non-perishable goods.
• It has adopted PayWave technlogy entirely. It does not accept cash. A customer waves his/her card at the entrance and is allowed entry. Special RFID readers are installed in trolleys. When an item is selected or picked, it is automatically queued for payment. If it is removed, the item is deleted. Customers bag their items as they shop. When shopping has been completed, the customer merely exits the store. The total is automatically charged to the card used as the customer walks out of the store. No queues at the check-out.
• Customers without a PayWave card (eg. tourists and children for example) may approach the front desk to put a temporary cash deposit. They will be issued a store-issued PayWave card that will allow them to shop. They will still be able to exit the store like other customers. The balance is returned in cash or recorded so it can be used for future purchases. If the amount is insufficient to cover the purchases, an alarm will ring.
• Tagging every item with an RFID chip incurs extra overheads. The store absorbs this cost in the interest of customers who are in a rush.
• Shopping summary stations strategically placed throughout the stores allow a customer to view in detailed list of items that is in their trolley.
• Store car parks are also timed by the minute during the peak shopping period. In non-peak periods, car park rates are lower. Disabled parking is free.

1. Write a well presented report for the above outlining the business operation. Provide three recommendations that are well substantiated with journal literature and referenced correctly. (You may use the reasons/justifications above or use your own that supports this change).

2. Provide an additional option to the above suggestion to improve customer service.

Provide three suggestions into improving business service/operation offerings such as customer feedback, product quality review, etc, substantiated with current literature.

The Pay Wave Technology

The innovation in the trends and technology changing the scenario of shopping facilities provided to the customers. The customers doing shopping at malls and supermarkets facing the problem of wasting time in standing longs lines of customers at billing counters. During the peak period, the shopping becomes troublesome. The analysis of the customer problem helps the Oz supermarket to come with the technology which makes customers free from standing in the long queues at the billing counter. The top executives of the OZ supermarket propose the concept of Pay wave technology to be implemented in the working culture of the organization. it helps in resolving the issues of the customers which are faced during shopping. This technology makes the shopping comfortable by guiding for the availability of products and incorporating direct billing system. “The pay wave technology works on the fundamental principle of come, shop, and go” (Behumi, 2014). It helps in the management of the traffic at the exit queues. The card system is used for doing direct payment after shopping without going to the billing counter.

“The pay wave technology helps in resolving the issues of the customers which are faced during shopping” (Bradford, 2015). The cashless payment system changes the billing scenario of the enterprise. The payment cards are provided by the organization to do shopping to the customers who do not have the payment card. The amount of bill is deducted from their account without coming to the billing counter. The customers who do not have the payment card will deposit their cash for shopping at the billing counter and get the payment card for doing shopping. The customer will returned back to the help desk to collect their remaining money after completing the shopping. The customer’s account is opened in the database of the Oz organization to make their later shopping comfortable. The RFID reader technology is used in the development of the payment card system. The bar codes are used for reading the cost of the product and added to the billing amount. The cost of the item placed in the trolley will be added to generate billing amount of the customers. The amount of the bill will be deducted from the account balance of the customer with the dropping of message on the mobile phone of the customers. The theft of the available product is not possible with the inclusion of the pay wave technology. The customer can do easy and secure payment of the bill. There is no entering of PIN number is required. It is working like a mobile wallet for the customers. It helps in reducing the burden of work from the employees located at the billing counter. They have to work on the database management system. The checkout experience is completely transformed for the customers. The cash handling can be reduced to the large extent. The payment processes can be streamlined by reducing the operating costs and increasing the operational efficiency of the system. The new system helps in increasing the frequency of the purchases. The cardholder verification method is used for generating receipts for the transaction. It helps in increasing the customer satisfaction level. The consumer loyalty program can be enhanced by using contactless card. The implementation of the payment infrastructure is easy. It is the secure technology to overcome the problem of picking pocket. The problem of wrong billing can be resolved. The smart cards are used for doing transactions of the purchases. The working model of the OZ supermarket is described in the figure below:

Working Structure of Pay Wave Technology at Oz Supermarket

The infrastructure of the pay wave technology consists of the five layers. The classification of the layer is done such as deployment of the payment scheme, use of technology RFID reader, NFC, cell phones, and etc., use of payment devices for doing payments of the purchases, end user or customers, and the medium of transactional channel. The payment devices are categorised as web-based, card based, and mobile based. The bills of the purchases are read by the RFID reader for deducting the same from the customer’s account balance. The changes in the bill can be done by the addition and elimination of product from the trolley. The pay wave card is used for doing the final transaction of shopping and the relevant message will be sent to the customer mobile phone. This message is to be shown at the exit queue for approving the payment of shopping. The diagram below shows the working of the RFID reader.  The scanning of the card is done through the reader and manages the backend database for the query related to the application.

• Use of Mobile phones and near field communication: “The NFC is used in the mobile phones for carrying out payment using credit card of the customers” (Cho, 2010). It is used for doing mobile payments. It helps in making contactless payments.
• Payment system using mobile phone: Most of the customer makes use of mobile phones for doing payments. The SMS based transaction system is preferred for making payments of the purchases. “The message is sent to the mobile phones of the customer after deducting billing amount from the customer account” (Christoph, 2013).
• Direct mobile billing system: The PIN number and the mobile account is provided to the customers for making payments. The customer can do direct payment from their mobile account of the purchases. The consumer loyalty program can be enhanced by using contactless payment system.

The satisfaction level of the customers can be improved with the implementation of the pay wave technology in the working structure of the organization. The pay wave technology is successfully acceptable by the customers and employees. The new payment technology changes the scenario of the payment system. “The direct payment system is incorporated in the working culture of the Oz super market for reducing the long queues of payment at billing desk” (Johnsons, 2015). It helps in the affordability of doing shopping in the mall during peak period. The detection of the fraud can be easily determined. At the exit queue the shopper has to show the payment message on their mobile shows to do effective shopping. “The RFID reader makes use of the microchips for reading the billing amount which has to be deducted from the user account” (Guttman, 2014). The accuracy of the calculation can be achieved by keeping the products near to the RFID reader for detecting the cost of the products. The customer can pick up the product from the shelf and directly do the payment by using their pay wave card.

Advantages of Pay Wave Technology

The Oz supermarket analyses the requirement of customers for implementing the new technology which is capable of resolving the issues of the customers. The innovation in the trends and technology changes the working culture of the Oz mall. The customers are provided with the quality of service by minimizing the long queues at the help desk and billing counter. The time spent on making payment in the traditional way of working can be saved by using the pay wave contactless technology. This platform provides facilities to the customers to make instant payment of the purchases. It helps in gaining profit to take competitive advantage. The customers are putting pressure to make use of new tools and technologies to brings advancement in the working of the Oz mall. The payment of the purchases can be made directly without wasting time in the long queues of customers. The shopping experience can be facilitated by saving the time of the customers. The pay wave card is used for doing the final transaction of shopping and the relevant message will be sent to the customer mobile phone.

“The organization is focusing to adapt the working culture according to the innovation and the changing requirement of the customers” (Lu, 2012). The concerned areas which should be focused for using the new tools and technologies are operational capability of the technology, evaluating the skills of the customers for using the required technology, and the technology and methodology used for satisfying the requirement of the customers. “The accumulation of feedback and reviews help in analysing the quality of services provided to the customers” (Martin, 2015). The factors which are responsible for the effective utilization of the pay wave technology are customer’s efficiency, accessibility of data, affordability, and the user friendly development of the interface design. The training and development program can be organised for making customers familiar to the new pay wave technology. “The precious time of the customers can be saved which was wasted at the billing counter in the traditional working of the organization” (Tollens, 2014).

• Safeguarding and security procedures: The older generation is not quite active to make use of card for making payment of the purchases. The cash payment is usually preferred over cashless system by the older generation. The safeguard systems should be incorporated in the online payment of the purchases. In the pay wave card system, the use of micro-chips  and PIN number changes the scenario of payment transaction. The 128 characters are used for developing security key to perform transaction through the technology of pay wave card system. The loss of pay wave card does not result into the loss of confidential information of the customers. The 128 characters are used for making security key which is not an easy tasks for the hacker to crack it and get the confidential information of the customers. The verification value is used for securing the transaction to utilize the dynamic card. The capability of the system depends on measuring the transaction recognition. The newer technology saves the working of organization from theft and fraud. The reduction in the fraud activities helps in raising the profit of the enterprise. The pay wave transaction makes use of cryptographic procedures to provide security to the transaction done by the customers. The process of encryption and decryption of the public and private keys are used for maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of the information.
• Determining the location of the product in the super market: “The use of navigation techniques helps in determining the location of the product placed in the shelves of the super market to minimize the time of searching” (Quibria, 2014). The products can be searched according to the requirement of the customers. “The affordability of getting items from the shelves of the mall can be raised by following the navigation chart of items” (Wuest, 2015). The time spent on searching and billing can be minimized to a high extent. The use of smart phone is the necessity for using the smart applications.
• Alert generation on entrance and exit of the customers: “The infrared heat sensitive sensors are used for determining the presence of the customers at entrance and exit gate” (Bemile, 2016). The customer had to show the billing message on the mobile phone to getting approval for exit. It helps in reducing the chance of fraud to occur.  The SMS based transaction system is preferred for making payments of the purchases. The message is sent to the mobile phones of the customer after deducting billing amount from the customer account.

Conclusion:

The pay wave smart card technology is successfully accepted by the customers to make their shopping experience comfortable. The security and safeguarding system helps in carrying transaction of payment securely. The level of customer satisfaction increases with the use of new technology.

References:

Behumi, V. (2014). The effects of technology based self service on grocery retail (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:20043/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Bemile, P. (2016). The truth about the contactless payments (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.canberra.edu.au/cis/storage/Contactless%20payments.pdf

Bradford, T. (2015). Contactless: The next payment wave? (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.kansascityfed.org/Publicat/PSR/Briefings/Dec05Briefing.pdf

Cho, H. (2010). The Self service technology for retailing (1st ed.). Retrieved from ftp://ftp.repec.org/opt/ReDIF/RePEc/sym/PDF/symjournl143.pdf

Christoph, J. (2013). A survey on radio frequency identification trends (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.cs.wustl.edu/~jain/cse574-06/ftp/rfid.pdf

Gutmann, P. (2014). Contactless Payment system: Credit cards and NFC Phones (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/contactless_payment.pdf

Johnsons, W. (2015). The truth about contactless payments (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.canberra.edu.au/cis/storage/Contactless%20payments.pdf

Liu, S. (2012). The consumer implication of the use of electronic and mobile payment systems (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/canada/financial-consumer-agency/migration/eng/resources/researchsurveys/documents/elemobpay-paielecmob-eng.pdf

Martin, D. (2015). What are the advantages and disadvantages of contactless payment system (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-contactless-payment-systems

Quibria, N. (2014). The contactless wave: A case study in the transit payment (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=Research%20paper%20pdf%20on%20%20pay%20wave%20card%20system&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiJ-eec6-3VAhWGNY8KHfxyAScQFggsMAE&url=https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/economic/cprc/publications/briefings/transit.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFp-MAJJOhJU2O9UQy7deF0BgsebQ

Tollens, P. (2014). Financial services innovation: Payments innovate to differentiate (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.finsia.com/docs/default-source/Industry-reports-Research-partnerships/finsia-aiia-payments-innovation-thought-leadership-paper.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Wuest, W. (2015). Pay pass and pay wave card (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.fos.org.au/custom/files/docs/fact_sheet_paypass_and_paywave_cards.pdf