Mastercard Inc. announced at Mobile World Congress this week that it would be expanding its mobile ordering and payment platform, Qkr! with Masterpass, to six new markets including Canada.
Aimed at retailers in general and bars, clubs, and restaurants in particular, the Qkr platform allows users to place orders ahead of time, pay for services, and even set up tabs on their mobile devices.
In a Feb. 27 statement Betty DeVita, chief commercial officer with Mastercard’s digital payments and labs division, said the new platform would help retailers meet their customers’ ever-heightening expectations.
“Today, we’re looking for convenience in all parts of our lives,” she said. “Qkr! with Masterpass provides [consumers] with a frictionless retail experience – bringing together self-service, fast, seamless payments and card safety and security in new and unique ways.”
The platform, which also allows users to make payments at gas stations, parking, sports arenas, and even vending machines, is already live in Australia, Colombia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, where it has been used at fast-casual restaurants such as Wagamama, Ask Italian, Young’s Pubs, Zizzi, and Change Please, a mobile coffee delivery service run by the homeless in London.
To help business owners implement the Qkr platform in North America, Mastercard also announced a partnership with Oracle Corp. this week, with the Santa Clara, Calif.-based enterprise software giant now incorporating Qkr into its in-store payment service offerings for brick-and-mortar owners and Mastercard Payment Gateway Services into its services for retailers with online operations.
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