Visa launches Tap to Phone pilot in the US

Visa has started its first Tap to Phone mobile point-of-sale (PoS) pilot in the US, starting with Washington, D.C.

The initiative aims to support the Black-owned small businesses SMBs in the city, which is said to be one of the US cities with the highest percentage of such businesses.

The technology transforms Android devices into contactless software-based point-of-sale (softPOS) terminals.

The US pilot will be initially a six-city initiative, also including Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles as well as Miami and aimed at helping businesses owned by Black women.

Visa collaborated with minority-owned, mobile smartphone technology provider ZmBIZI to empower 50 Black-owned SMBs in Washington D.C.

Under the pilot, ZmBIZI’s Z1 devices with Tap to Phone capabilities will be offered to 50 Black-owned SMBs in Washington D.C.

Visa said: “In Washington D.C., Visa Street Teams are being joined by Black Girl Ventures, whose mission is to create access to capital, community and capacity building for Black and Brown women-identifying founders, to begin delivering ‘commerce in a box’ which features a curated selection of offers, discounts and bundles from Visa’s Authorize.net and Visa partners designed to help SMBs with what they need to move their business forward digitally – from accepting digital payments and building an eCommerce site to marketing to their audience in new ways and providing marketing online tools to run and protect their business.”

The move forms part of Visa’s commitment to digitally transform 50 million SMBs.

Visa global head of buyer, seller, core and platform products Mary Kay Bowman said: “The way we shop and pay has forever changed. During the pandemic, tapping to pay and contactless checkout became more commonplace – and are now expected.

“With our technology, networking and community resources, we’re hoping to empower small businesses everywhere to meet their customers in the next phase of digital-first commerce.”

Visa’s Tap to Phone offering has been already launched in 30 markets worldwide.

In April this year, payment solutions firm PayTabs collaborated with Visa to offer its PayTabs Touch mobile acceptance solution.