PayWave Technology For Radio Frequency Identification

Business Operation

Discuss about the PayWave Technology for Radio Frequency Identification.

PayWave technology is a mode of payment that allows customers pay using their enabled card or mobile device(s) at the point of sale terminal by simply waving their card or mobile device in front of a secure reader at the checkout. It is an alternative to swiping or handing your card over to a cashier. PayWave uses contactless technology where someone with a card only has to wave their card in front of a card reader, and the PayWave terminal reads and processes the transaction. PayWave cards may use RFD (radio-frequency identification) or NFC (near field communication) (Blecker, 2008). PayWave payments are made in close physical propinquity to the readers at the point of sale terminals. A near field communication chip together with a radio antenna embedded into the card transmits the customers’ information to the point of sale terminal permitting contactless payment.

Oz Supermarket has employed PayWave technology in their retail outlet and used this technology in receiving payments for the goods they sell. Oz Supermarket entirely uses PayWave technology. Those customers who would like to make purchases at their outlet have to have a PayWave card. Those who don’t have the card have to make a temporary cash deposit at the front desk and be issued with a store-issued PayWave card. The PayWave technology is aided by a special radio-frequency identifier reader installed on trolleys to enable automatic queuing for payment and also automatic removal from the queue those items removed from the carts by the customers as they pick their items.

Carrying out transactions using PayWave technology is fast. The client does not need a PIN when making purchases. Payment and account information is transmitted wirelessly as long as the payment device is in proximity to the reader (Lerner, 2013). The contactless card has a secure integrated circuit generated from energy transferred from the reader by producing a radio frequency field that induces an electric current in the integrated circuits’ antenna. This makes it possible for the information contained in the cards to be passed very fast to the card readers.

PayWave technology is also secure. The cards make use of cryptography and secure network processing. The cards have a private key and certificate used to sign transactions and is never transmitted therefore it cannot be accessed. The contactless transactions generate a unique code based on its secret key for each transaction (Zheng, 2016). This makes it possible for the card users to track their spending history. The terminals at the point of sale terminals also verify the card’s digital signature over the transaction data improving the security of the card in addition to the several layers of security which have been put in place to protect the card.

Recommendations

Customers who use PayWave cards benefit from zero liability. The customers are protected against unauthorised transactions or fraud with a one hundred percent reimbursement.  This is especially true for clients issued with a card and does not apply to certain card transactions. One must inform their financial institution without delay of any unauthorised use. In the case of loss or defacement of the card, the user of the card has the duty to inform the institution that issued the card so that the appropriate action can be taken. Some of the institutions also provide protection for online transactions, domestic transactions, in-store transactions, phone operations and oversea transactions.

PayWave technology is convenient. Clienteles making purchases using their card do not need signatures or PINS to make purchases. All they need to do is pass their cards in proximity to the card readers found at the point of sale terminals. Once a customer waves their card in front of the card readers, the necessary deductions according to the purchases made are charged on the card. PayWave technology is also easy to use. The customer using a card does not need to swipe their card either do they need to give their card to an attendant at the point of sale terminal. As long as the user of the card is within a range of about two inches and can swipe the card near the card reader, they can make acquisitions at the store.

Oz Supermarket should consider other payment options to increase diversity and flexibility in payment for the goods bought. They can also include credit cards, VISA cards, Master cards and mobile payments like Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay (Hu et.al, 2005). This will enable those customers without a PayWave card to also buy from the store with what they have. This will be convenient for them since they will not have to go through the process of acquiring a store-issued PayWave card. This will save on time. It will also encourage those without PayWave card which is a must have for one to buy goods at the outlet to stop shying away from the outlet.

The store should look for a way to take care of the overheads incurred by the store-issued cards. This can be done by sharing the costs with the customers to reduce the charges incurred by the retail outlet as a result of extra charges arising from the radio frequency identification chips. The customers should be informed of this to improve the transparency of services.

The store should have a centralised place to do bagging. The place where this is done should have enough attendants to aid customers to pack the goods they have purchased. This is especially necessary where the client has purchased several items. It may be inconvenient for the customers to bag the goods they have bought. This may be true in case the person has a disability. This can discourage customers from making further subsequent visits to the place.

The retail outlet should implement a system that can show promptly those cards that do not have sufficient funds to pay for the items put in the shopping trolleys. The radio frequency identification on the trolleys should be linked to the card readers at the point of sale terminals. This linking will show the clients promptly if they have funds in their cards that will be able to pay for the goods they have picked or not long before they reach the point of sale terminals to make their payments. The trolleys can be fitted with light emitting diodes that produce the required light according to the situation i.e. they may decide to use a green light to show that the purchaser has enough funds and maybe yellow light to warn the customer that they do not have adequate resources. This will save on time as the customers will be able to remove goods in advance without having to do this at the point of sale terminal after the card reader beeps.

Oz Supermarket should have employees on standby to help their customers in case they run into problems. There should be staff to assist those who may need assistance. These officials may have technical skills that may enable them to handle special functionalities like failed RFID chips on the trolleys, failed card readers at the point of sale terminals. There should also be employees to assist the buyers in identifying the shelves with the goods they need.

The store should implement the right security measures to ensure that their system and customers are safe from fraudsters. Oz Supermarket can employ cryptography over their network encompassing their point of sale terminals, CCVTVs and RFID chips found in their trolleys. They should also use a relational database that is up to date and automatically update according to the activities carried out in their system. The files in the database should be encrypted. Physical security of CCTV cameras should be considered to ensure that there is no breach in the safety of the enterprise (Kruegle, 2007). Security and access controls should also be implemented to ensure all users are sufficiently protected (Damjanovski, 2005).

The retail outlet should also have a backup system. The backup system can be on standby and could come in in case there are any problems with the system. The backup will come in handy where a need to restore lost functionalities within the system becomes necessary. The management of Oz Supermarket may decide to implement full backup, incremental backup, differential backup or virtual full backup according to their needs. A full backup will enable them to copy all files and store them according to their schedule. Incremental backup will be done in a continuous manner as needed. A differential backup is necessary where the persons involved would only like to preserve the data that has changed since the last full backup. Virtual full backup is done automatically by backup software according to specifications.

Conclusion

Oz Supermarket is a retail outlet that has implemented modern technology in their system to aid in payment of goods at their store. These measures are positive and in my opinion, have impacted positively on the activities of the retail store. With other improvements like the introduction of other payment platforms like mobile payments the services offered will be better. Customer experience may also improve if these improvements are made making the outlet have a competitive edge against other players in the market (Hennig-Thurau, 2000).

References

Blecker, T., Huang, G. Q., & Bajic, E. (2008). RFID in operations and supply chain management: Research and applications. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag.

CARDIS (Conference), Grimaud, G., & Standaert, F.-X. (2008). Smart card research and  advanced applications: 8th IFIP WG 8.8/11.2 international conference, CARDIS 2008, London, UK, September 8-11, 2008 ; proceedings. Berlin: Springer.

Damjanovski, V. (2005). CCTV: Networking and digital technology. Amsterdam:   Elsevier/Butterworth Heinemann.

Hennig-Thurau, T. (2000). Relationship marketing: Gaining competitive advantage through customer satisfaction and customer retention : with 24 tables. Berlin [u.a.: Springer.

Hu, W. C., Lee, C.-W., & Kou, W. (2005). Advances in security and payment methods for mobile commerce. Hershey, PA: Idea Group.

Kruegle, H. (2007). CCTV surveillance: Analog and digital video practices and technology. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann.

Lerner, T. (2013). Mobile Payment. (Mobile payment.) Wiesbaden: Imprint: Springer Vieweg.

Preston, W. C. (2007). Backup and recovery. Beijing: O’Reilly.

Shelly, G. B., & Vermaat, M. (2008). Discovering computers 2009: Brief. Australia: Course Technology.

Shooman, M. L. (2002). Reliability of computer systems and networks: Fault tolerance, analysis  and design. New York: Wiley-Interscience.

Swift, R. S. (2001). Accelerating customer relationships: Using CRM and relationship  technologies. Upper Saddle River, N.J. [u.a.: Prentice Hall PTR.

Tschauner, L. (2012). Rule of Thumb: A Guide to small business customer service and relationships. Omaha, Nebr: WriteLife.

Zheng, F., & Kaiser, T. (2016). Digital signal processing for RFID.