Mobile Marketing and Commerce Strategies

Aiming to reduce card-not-present fraud, Canadian security firm SafePay is rolling out a new smartphone app that lets users securely authenticate online purchases.

 

The Paypers reports the app enables users in both the U.S. and Canada to confirm all online purchases made at registered SafePay retailers. Users simply download the app and register their billing address and credit cards. When they make a purchase at a SafePay retailer, they receive a notification giving them 60 seconds to decline or approve the sale. If they approve, the sale goes through; if they decline, the sale is canceled. The app is currently available only on iOS, although Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry versions are expected to roll out later this year.

 

Yankee Group Principal Analyst Nick Holland comments

 

“This app may have some considerable advantages for the online merchant, a class of seller plagued not only by credit card fraud but by the high rate of card-not-present interchange fees levied by the card networks as an insurance policy against fraud. It’s an interesting solution. However, the problem lies with consumers who, unless highly paranoid about credit card usage online, are probably quite happy with the existing assurance and limited liability provided already by credit-card-issuing banks. It’s an eloquent solution, but one must ask from the consumer standpoint: Is this more hassle than it is worth?”