VIDEO INTERVIEW: Knowledge of how a consumer moves around a store when they are shopping could be the really valuable information for mobile operators to know, said David Sear, CEO of the UK m-commerce venture Weve, in an interview with Mobile World Live.

“We had to get the big picture right – who you are, what you like, some of your history – but the small picture – what am I doing now in the store? – that’s actually the really exciting bit,” said Sear.

Sear was talking about lessons learnt from the creation of Weve, which offers mobile advertising and loyalty services. Payments are to follow late this year or in 2015.

The small picture, according to Sear, revolves around iBeacon, the Apple-backed Bluetooth technology which messages users when they enter a store.

Weve is currently trialling iBeacon technology with UK chain Eat, a first implementation in Europe it claims. Users participate in the trial through Weve’s loyalty app called Pouch. And the venture has other, unnamed retailers it expects to see on board soon, said Sear.

Coming next is payments. “What we are trying to do is actually make it a little less messy. Everyone’s been talking about NFC, mobile payments, HCE – and every other single variant you can imagine – but really to consumers what matters is ‘can I use my debit or credit card in my phone?’.

According to Weve, seventy per cent of users want to make contactless payments at the point of sale. With this in mind, Weve last month unveiled a NFC-based payments partnership with MasterCard.

Watch the full video here.