Square, Starbucks Show Why Mobile Payments Are Unpopular
BY SIMON ZHEN
Despite the valiant push by financial innovators to boost adoption of mobile payments, these new ways to pay for something remain a mystery to consumers. The effort is further impeded, surprisingly, by some of the retailers that accept mobile payments.
In a small test by Fast Company, it was discovered that many Starbucks employees were unaware of customers’ ability to pay with Square. With the Square Wallet mobile application, available for iPhone and Android, customers can present an on-screen payment barcode that can be scanned at the Starbucks checkout counter.
On multiple occasions, Fast Company was met with looks of confusion as employees scrambled to accept this new form of payment. While some haven’t heard of Square, some didn’t know how to get the system to process the payment (store managers struggled with it as well). Even when everything was set up to take Square payments, barcode readers had difficulty scanning customers’ smartphones. Oftentimes, employees just punched in backup barcode numbers to accept the payment.
We’d expect Starbucks employees to be well-versed with Square’s technology. If retailers cannot get mobile payments to work, how do you expect consumers to adopt it and spread the word of this cool new technology? Additionally, those who failed to be captivated by mobile payments will simply drop them and revert to traditional methods of paying for things.
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