Is 7-Eleven's mobile app a way to minimize COVID exposure?
COVID-19, and the desire to avoid getting it, is already impacting mobile payments, especially NFC payments known as contactless. Those payments happen in-store, mere inches away from the same card swipe device used by countless others. But shoppers' desire to avoid going inside stores at all, even briefly, is sparking interest in app payments that happen far away from a POS system.
Case in point: 7-Eleven. Although 7-Eleven is piloting a program to accelerate in-store purchases by scanning barcodes, that's not especially COVID-19-friendly. The more interesting trial from the Slurpee people is aimed at paying for gas and it theoretically eliminates having to talk with a store employee at all. (If I keep the windows closed throughout the interaction, am I supposed to still wear the mask?)