BARCELONA, Spain—At Mobile World Congress Monday Mastercard announced that it will expand Qkr! with Masterpass, a mobile order-ahead and payment platform developed by Mastercard Labs, to six new markets and add new functionality to eliminate the traditional “open tab” at a bar, club or restaurant.
Qkr! with Masterpass enables consumers to order and pay for goods and services via their smartphone without having to wait in line or for a restaurant server. The app uses Masterpass, a global digital payment service that speeds up the checkout process without requiring consumers to enter their financial and shipping information at every new merchant site.
In 2017, Mastercard will expand the Qkr platform to six additional markets – Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa and the United States – to pay for fees, supplies and excursions at schools, and make payments at gas stations, parking, sports arenas, and unattended retail such as vending machines. Mastercard is also partnering with Oracle to integrate Qkr and Masterpass in Oracle point-of-sale software and systems to scale these digital payment platforms to merchants worldwide.
“Today, we’re looking for convenience in all parts of our lives,” said Betty DeVita, chief commercial officer, digital payments and labs, Mastercard. “Though grab-and-go retail is becoming increasingly popular with those on the move, consumers maintain high customer service expectations. Qkr! with Masterpass provides them with a frictionless retail experience – bringing together self-service, fast, seamless payments and card safety and security in new and unique ways.”
Qkr is already live in Australia, Colombia, Mexico and the United Kingdom and is being used at fast-casual restaurants such as wagamama, Juan Valdez, ASK Italian, Young’s Pubs, Zizzi, and Change Please, a mobile coffee-delivery social project run by the homeless in London.
Mastercard is adding a new feature to Qkr called “Open Tab” that enables customers to open a tab at the bar without depositing a payment card or an identity document like a driver’s license with the bartender.
Mastercard said that research shows that diners often have to wait as long as 12 minutes to flag a server, receive the bill and make a payment.
“Forgetting and leaving a payment card behind is also a common phenomenon. With Open Tab, customers are able to see their order on their phone and pay via their mobile device when they are ready. Bills can be easily split between multiple customers who can either select and pay for individual items or choose to pay for one or more rounds. Masterpass speeds the checkout process, eliminating the wait. The feature will be available to restaurants in summer of 2017,” Mastercard said.