Safaricom has rolled out a new payment proposition, dubbed M-PESA 1 Tap following a successful pilot which started June last year. The M-PESA 1 Tap rollout will first be done in Nakuru County before spreading to the rest of the country.
M-PESA 1 Tap will reduce the number of steps required by customers to make a Lipa Na M-PESA payment from eight steps to two steps- adding speed and convenience. Customers will have a choice to either use a Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled card, wristband or phone sticker.
To make payments, customers will tap their cards, wristbands or stickers on an M-PESA 1 Tap Point of Sale terminal (POS), and enter their PIN on their phone to confirm and complete the payment.
“M-PESA 1 Tap marks the next phase in our M-PESA journey as we bring to our customers innovations that further enhance the speed, safety and convenience of the service. We have seen the number of payments on M-PESA now grow to the equivalent of person-to-person transactions, a testament that Lipa Na M-PESA has indeed become an integral part of our customers’ day-to-day lives,” said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom.
M-PESA customers will also benefit from a higher level of privacy as they can now complete Lipa Na M-PESA payments without having to show confirmation messages as has been the case in some instances. In addition, the solution will reduce errors that occur when payments are made to unintended Till Numbers.
In line with the current practice, customers will continue making Lipa Na M-PESA Buy Goods transactions with M-PESA 1 Tap at no cost, with the exception of petrol station tariffs, betting and Pay Bills. Retailers purchasing from wholesalers will also maintain their current Buy Goods Distributor tariff.
Merchants across the country will be issued with M-PESA 1 Tap Point of Sale terminals in line with the phased roll out. Both customers and merchants will be issued with M-PESA 1 Tap payment devices and two subsequent replacement will be free.
The launch of M-PESA 1 Tap comes on the heels of the recent reduction by half of Lipa Na M-PESA Buy Goods merchant tariffs. Safaricom also announced the expansion of M-PESA Kadogo to Lipa Na M-PESA Buy Goods, eliminating merchant charges for all Lipa Na M-PESA Buy Goods transactions of Sh200 and below.
The number of Lipa Na M-PESA transactions grew from half that of person-to-person M-PESA transactions in 2015/2016 to equal the latter in the six months to September 2016.
