LIVE FROM THE GSMA’S NFC & MOBILE MONEY SUMMIT, NEW YORK: A senior executive from the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) – a retailer-led mobile wallet initiative with backers such as Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven and Best Buy – outlined why the merchant community is critical to making mobile payments a success.

MCX’s Dodd Roberts (pictured) said a major issue limiting the uptake of mobile payments is that the majority of consumers aren’t aware of it: “We’ve got some pretty large merchants and what they say is hardly anybody is banging down their door to say I want to do business with you via my mobile phones.”

The reasons, according to Roberts, are the lack of a compelling value proposition for consumers and merchants, privacy and security concerns, and a lack of merchant engagement.

“When merchants have a mobile solution as part of their corporate strategy it makes a world of difference [compared to] a merchant that accepts something but doesn’t really engage,” Roberts explained. “The merchant knows how the consumer wants to engage with them and is the one that knows how to provide relevant offers that matter to the consumer,” he added.

In addition, true usage of mobile payment requires “the store around the corner” to use the technology as well as bigger merchant brand names, according to Roberts.

And while merchants must step up to boost customer engagement, Roberts said the payment technology developed by MCX can address security concerns as it uses QR codes and holds data in the cloud. Roberts also emphasised that MCX will not monetise data it holds: “MCX plans to be the good guys with data.”

MCX’s mobile payment technology is used by 90,000 stores, with 400 million weekly customer touch points and encompassing 700 million payment loyalty accounts.

Roberts also said that MCX plans to launch a new consumer-facing app soon, with a “sexier” brand name than the initiative’s current moniker.