Changed the cup, not the saucer – NFC payments in supermarkets

Abstract

Near field communication (NFC) payments are into play for many years now. Both card and mobile NFC’s are widely accepted by almost all supermarkets in many countries. The usability of NFC payments not only depends on the NFC card/mobile used but also on the payment terminal used in the supermarkets. To evaluate the usability of NFC payments, observations and exit interviews were conducted in 6 different supermarkets in Vienna, Austria. We had a total 160 observations and 179 exit interviews. The above-mentioned data was analyzed and the results portrayed that NFC payments suffer several usability issues. The results show that users face lack of proper information, lack of feedback and consistency while paying with NFCs.