SwatchPAY! has launched in Germany and Austria, with Wirecard serving as its exclusive payment partner.
The mobile payment solution will enable consumers to make contact payments with a selection of new Swatch watches.
By leveraging the Wirecard’s boon service, watch owners will receive a virtual Mastercard tied to their SwatchPAY! app. This digital card can be topped up via a credit card or bank transfer.
Once set up, the user simply holds their watch up to a compatible terminal in-store and a chime will be made to confirm a payment has been completed.
Power for this process is supplied by the payment terminal, meaning the payment will still be completed when the watch battery is empty.
Wirecard executive vice president Georg von Waldenfels said, “Mobile payment methods are becoming increasingly popular, and for a long time we have been driving this development forward.
“The fact that Swatch relies exclusively on Wirecard as its technology partner for the implementation of its SwatchPAY! strategy demonstrates our leading position in this area. With the new SwatchPAY! watches, users of our popular app boon now have even more opportunities to pay easily and securely.”
The watches, which are waterproof for up to 30 metres, implement security functions which ensure a user’s card details are not disclosed to merchants.
Wearable payments are becoming a very popular transaction method in Europe. Recent research from Mastercard stated that usage in 2019 is nearly eight-times larger than 2018. The Netherlands is the country leading this change, representing 33% of all European wearable transactions this year.
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