Apple Pay Shifts Focus to Independent Merchants

apple payApple Pay has begun to shift its focus to independent merchants and small-to-medium sized businesses, with new support documents for the mobile payments solution extolling its speed and security compared to traditional credit and debit cards.

Among Apples tactics for getting smaller businesses to embrace its payment system has been adding a telephone support hotline and frequently asked questions section to the companys marketing documents for Apple Pay, as well as boasting the number of payment service providers that support the solution, which is closing in on 100.

According to Apple Insider, among the frequently asked questions are points regarding fees, printing receipts and fraud liability, as well as the mechanism for processing returns, all of which are likely to be high on the list of independent merchants concerns.

While Apple has been growing its list of financial services that support the solution, its list of merchant partners has not grown as quickly, and the announcement of Samsung Pay, which uses magnetic technology to eliminate the need for specialised NFC readers, may have put more pressure on Apple to reach a wider audience.