TOKYO -- Japanese companies Fujitsu and SoftBank will launch a service within the year that enables people to simultaneously make a credit-card purchase and use reward points or discount coupons with a single swipe of their smartphones over a reader at checkout.
The service, which will be compatible with phones offered by Japan's three major mobile carriers, will save users the trouble of carrying multiple cards.
Fujitsu will develop the system and app, while SoftBank Payment Service, a SoftBank subsidiary, will handle the payment and settlement functions.
To use the app at participating stores, users will first need to register such information as their credit card numbers and IDs for online shopping, as well as data on their reward point cards.
Before making each purchase, users will first designate through the app how many reward points or coupons they would like to use. This will create a bar code that will transmit the discount information when scanned over a reader at the point of purchase.
Users can choose to have the purchase amounts added to their credit-card or phone bills. To prevent the use of fake data, the bar code will be updated every five seconds in the app.
Fujitsu and SoftBank expect to find solid demand among such retailers as drugstores and apparel shops, as well as from restaurants. They hope to have 100 companies participating by March 2017.
(Nikkei)
