Mobile wallet passes and Apple Pay. A match made in heaven.
We’re big proponents of mobile wallet passes, that much is probably obvious if you’ve ever read a blog entry or listened to one of our podcasts. And mobile wallet passes got a big shot in the arm with the latest Apple Pay announcement.
[LISTEN: How Mobile Affects the Shoppers Journey – PODCAST]
If you haven’t heard about it, don’t worry, we’ll give you the quick recap and tell you why it’s important in this very blog post 😉
With the MacOS Sierra update (notice they’re not calling it OS X any more) and the iOS 10 update, Apple has enabled the Apple ecosystem with the means to collect payments directly from Apple Pay while using a laptop or desktop that’s running Sierra.
Time Inc is among the first to complete their Apple Pay on the web integration. Shopify and Squarespace are also ready to roll with the update, and Stripe is making it super easy for merchants to add the option.
“Offering Apple Pay as a checkout option for our products and services provides an easier, frictionless purchase experience for existing and new customers”
What does this mean for e-commerce merchants?
Credit cards used for Apple Pay are stored in the Apple Wallet on iPhone. Mobile wallet passes that are used by merchants to market and advertise their services, products or events, are also stored in the Apple Wallet.
As more people become Apple Pay users (right now the demographic is overwhelmingly users under the age of 35 but Apple Pay has great security and will attract older users because of this), more consumers will understand what mobile wallet passes are and how they can be used to redeem gift cards, get discounts, and receive information that they find useful.
[READ: How Do Mobile Wallet Passes Work?]
All of these mobile wallet passes also offer the option of lock screen notifications based on time, location, or proximity, which helps to make a better shopping experience for consumers.
While the percentage of the population who happen to have an iPhone and a Mac desktop or laptop that are all updated to the latest OS versions is probably pretty small at the moment, that number will grow; if the initial sales reported on the new iPhone 7 and 7+ are any indication, a very large segment of the population will be at least halfway to being able to use Apple Pay on the web in short order.
And for those that don’t have a Mac desktop or laptop but do use iPhone, the same standards for using Apple Pay at a physical retailer have not changed. So mobile wallet passes also offer the same premium marketing and advertising opportunities they currently provide merchants, real estate agents and brokers, online marketers, and other verticals.