by Claudia Bruemmer

Google Wallet was released in September, and the company has recently added more merchants and expanded its features. For instance, users can now get automatic rewards, expanded and exclusive offers, and partnerships with a number of major merchants. You can watch a video on the Google Mobile Blog showing the look of amazement as shoppers try out Google Wallet.

Google’s Payment Solution. Google Wallet with PayPass uses the NFC payment technology that lets users pay with a single tap. Since security is a concern, the NFC specification requires the phone to be less than 20 cm from the reader, and the mobile app requires a PIN to be entered before making purchases. This is the same way users pay with a debit or credit card at a payment terminal when making a purchase. The advantage of Google Wallet is having all payment solutions in one device in addition to gift cards, boarding passes, tickets and loyalty cards. However, if the phone is dead, users can’t make a payment right then and there.

New Features. The new features include automatic rewards options, which allow merchants to give their customers loyalty points or other rewards at the moment a purchase is made with Google Wallet. The technology is driven by Punchd, a firm acquired by Google that offers electronic loyalty cards.

Google is now giving users access to exclusive deals like “15% off at American Eagle Outfitters, 10% off at The Container Store, 15% off at Macy’s and an all-fruit smoothie for $2 at Jamba Juice,” as announced on the Google Mobile Blog.

Users can also search for special offers using Google Wallet and save these offers in their account. When making a purchase, Wallet dispenses the saved deals automatically. How cool is that? The expanded deals may also come from Google’s recent acquisition of Zave Networks, which creates software connecting users with coupons and special offers in their local area. Google anticipates many more Wallet exclusive discounts will follow which can be saved in Google Wallet’s Favorites and be automatically applied to purchases at checkout.

Google has also improved transaction details for the Google Prepaid Card with real-time transaction information that includes the merchant’s name, location, dollar value and time of each transaction.

New Merchants. Lastly, Google is adding a lot more merchants to Wallet. The blog said the Offers Tab was updated to include many new “Featured Offers” with discounts exclusive to Google Wallet. These include American Eagle, Foot Locker, Guess, Jamba Juice, Macy’s, OfficeMax Outfitters, The Container Store and Toys’R'Us. Additionally, merchants like Chevron, D’Agostino, Faber News Now, Gristedes Supermarkets and Pinkberry are now implementing plans that allow their stores to accept Google Wallet. Google plans to eventually partner with major retailers worldwide.

Conclusion. We are on the brink of a paradigm shift in the way consumers pay for merchandise. Smartphone and tablet adoption is growing exponentially, and Google says hundreds of thousands of locations are now PayPass enabled to accept mobile payments. It’s important for merchants to get ready for mobile commerce now to attract and retain customers. Shopping will be changing forever, so it’s wise to become a part of the mobile commerce movement.