Nets, Swish partner on in-store payments pilot

Until now, Swish has mostly been used for account-to-account transactions and, more recently, ecommerce payments. Now, the payment app is working with Nets to expand into the retail and service sectors by piloting in-store mobile payment functionality.

The pilot programme is the first of its kind in Sweden and is being conducted at two restaurants owned by one of Sweden’s corporate cantina. The pilot will expand to additional merchants after the summer of 2019.

Swish enables in-store payments with a Bluetooth module developed by Nets that provides an NFC-like ‘tap and pay’ experience for consumers. Integration with merchants’ systems requires only the addition of a ‘Bluetooth box’ to Nets payment acceptance terminals. Therefore, merchants will not need to purchase new terminals to accept Swish payments. The in-store payments functionality also enables streamlined loyalty programmes, as Bluetooth technology opens up use cases such as real-time, geo-tagged offers. Nets also provides this Bluetooth functionality to Danish merchants, enabling them to accept in-store payments from locally issued wallets.

Swish and Nets’ new solution for in-store payments enables a quick check-out. The payment terminal display and app user interface show consumers how to make payments using Swish. Furthermore, the pairing between the mobile app and the payment terminal is uniform to prevent any uncertainty about which payment method is being used – for example, if a consumer has multiple payment apps on their smartphone. Merchants can also use the payment function to streamline loyalty concepts and digital communication with their customers.