CurrentC’s Pilot Is Under Way, But Users—And Some Clerks—Are in the Dark

By John Stewart

At least some consumers in Columbus, Ohio, are using the Merchant Customer Exchange’s CurrentC mobile-payments app, but with little or no advertising so far finding a store cashier who knows about the app and how it works is a hit-or-miss proposition.

That’s the finding of a CurrentC user who tried out the app on Thursday in Hilliard, a town just outside Columbus, and reported her experience to Digital Transactions News.

MCX, a payments consortium controlled by more than 60 major retail companies, has been developing CurrentC for more than three years and was set to begin a broad consumer pilot in the Columbus area for the mobile wallet late last month. After some delay, that pilot is now in progress, though it remains unclear how many users are participating. So far, there has been no local consumer promotion for the product, according to the CurrentC user, who lives in the area, and usage appears to be spotty at best.

Nor are store clerks consistently informed about CurrentC. The app is being accepted in Hilliard stores belonging to CVS Pharmacy, Giant Eagle Inc., Target Corp., and The Wendy’s Co., which is headquartered in nearby Dublin. The user visited a Target store first, followed by a trip to a Giant Eagle grocery. Of two cashiers at the Target store, one had no idea what CurrentC is and said no one had tried to use it. The other knew about it, adding store employees had been briefed on it. She rang up the user’s CurrentC transaction but said no one else has tried to use it. There was no signage at the registers about the wallet.

At the Giant Eagle store, the user found a small sign for CurrentC near the registers. Approached by the user, two cashiers said they knew about the payment service. One said no one had asked about it or used it. The other said a couple had used it “about a month ago,” but no one had since then. Both said the store had not given them information about the service.

For its part, MCX says it is actively promoting the CurrentC pilot, which it says went live in the Columbus area the middle of this month at more than 130 stores. “We’re using a mix of local paid media and in-store promotion to market the platform to Columbus consumers,” says a spokesperson. Market District, a Giant Eagle grocery brand, is also participating in the pilot, he says.

“We’re excited for the beta to be live in Columbus and pleased with the usage we’re seeing so far,” the spokesperson adds, without revealing actual transaction activity. “We’re looking to enhance the product by getting as much feedback as we can in the market and we’ll continue to market the platform locally, including by working with in-store staff.”

Using the app is a streamlined experience, according to the user. She loaded her Target RedCard credit card. At the Target store, she entered her passcode and touched the “Checkout” button. That brought up three options, “Dine,” “Shop,” and “Pump.” When she touched “Shop,” she got the option of scanning or showing a quick-response (QR) code. She showed hers, and then entered her PIN on the card reader. After the transaction, she received a confirmation immediately in the app.

But payment options are limited, at least for now, to the Target RedCard credit card, RedCard debit card, and a bank-account transfer. The user was reluctant to enter her checking-account details, so she was unable to perform a transaction with the app at Giant Eagle.

She was also puzzled about how the app suddenly became active. She downloaded it a month ago and requested an invitation to use it, believing the invitation was necessary to log in. She never received the invitation but the app went live this week any way.

In its short history, Needham, Mass.-based MCX has had experienced payments and retail leadership but has also had to contend with a change at the top. This spring, it replaced its chief executive, former Barclaycard U.S. executive Dekkers Davidson, with Brian V. Mooney, a former executive with Bank of America Merchant Services and First Data Merchant Services.