Nationwide Dealer Network to Resell Pay By Touch

PLANO, Texas & SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC and Pay By Touch have signed an agreement under which the two companies will market and distribute Pay By Touch's biometric authentication and payment service to independent grocers.

The joint solution minimizes grocers' transaction costs while allowing shoppers to pay for purchases with the simple touch of a finger.

Under the agreement, StoreNext, through its nationwide dealer network, will resell the Pay By Touch store-level hardware, software and interfaces to independent retailers in conjunction with StoreNext point-of-sale (POS) systems. StoreNext dealers also will provide ongoing service and support for the systems. Data and transactions from the independents' POS systems are processed through StoreNext's Connected Services suite of Internet-based store management applications, further lowering independents' networking costs.

"Independent grocers need ways to lower payment transaction costs while giving shoppers faster and more convenient service.

Pay By Touch makes low-cost biometric payment easy for shoppers while providing outstanding security," said Ray Carlin, president and CEO of StoreNext. "This agreement makes this state-of-the-art biometric technology accessible to regional chains and independents".

Pay By Touch makes the checkout process faster, more convenient and more secure by eliminating the need for shoppers to present cards, checks or cash at the point of sale. When checking out, shoppers simply touch a biometric sensor and enter a Personal Search number to authenticate their identity and link to their financial and loyalty accounts. Pay By Touch also provides merchants with a quick, precise way to verify age. Of course, they have also derived a lot of attention with the recent Aite Group Report citing the impressive impact of SmartShop.

"With StoreNext's installed base nearing 10,000 systems, our agreement becomes a watershed event for the industry," said John Rogers, founder, chairman, and CEO of Pay By Touch. "Together, we are empowering independent retailers to integrate, implement and merchandise secure, biometric payment options for consumers - a clear competitive advantage."

"The ever-increasing cost of card-based payments puts smaller grocers among the greatest beneficiaries of our services. Pay By Touch and StoreNext with Connected Services provide quick checkout, shopper convenience, dramatically lower costs and reduced fraud all at once."

StoreNext will market Pay By Touch as a complete plug-and-play solution, which includes StoreNext's ISS45 or ScanMaster POS system and the WinEPS electronic payments system. The MTXEPS, Inc. WinEPS system is the core payment engine used by many major retailers and independents throughout North America.

About Pay By Touch
Pay By Touch ( www.paybytouch.com) is wowing the world one touch at a time as the global leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions. To date, the company's patented biometric services enable 3.5 million shoppers to quickly and securely access personal accounts using a finger scan to identify themselves, make purchases, earn rewards and cash checks at 3,000 locations nationwide. It also provides robust payment processing solutions for ACH (electronic checking), card-present and card-not-present debit and credit transactions for retail clients. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Pay By Touch employs 800 professionals and holds more than 50 patents worldwide on secure, convenient and cost-effective transaction solutions.

About StoreNext
StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC is the No. 1 supplier of retail technology to independent grocers and regional chains. Based in Plano, Texas, StoreNext is a joint venture of Retalix Ltd. (RTLX :
retalix ltd ord
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RTLX 19.27, -0.07, -0.4%) and Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. markets Fujitsu POS hardware, Retalix's ISS45 and ScanMaster POS software, Retalix Store and Retalix HQ, as well as Internet Connected Services for managing stores via Web-enabled applications. StoreNext is the IT company that's dedicated to meeting the needs of this wholesaler-served market with packaged solutions that were previously available, affordable or practical only for large chains. Web site: www.storenext.com.

For sales and product information call (972) 265-4800.

SOURCE: StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC

Pay By Touch Expanding Into Singapore

Look for an upcoming announcement that Pay By Touch will expanding into Singapore coupled with whom it is they're going to be partnering and launching with. In the meantime, they are getting their website customized for the SG market. You can take a look at www.paybytouch.sg

Singapore Key Statistics:

Population & Area
Demographic Indicators
Literacy & Education
Social Indicators
Employment
Economic Indicators

With operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Shangahi-China, and Singapore. Pay By Touch is well on their way to accomplishing their mission of becoming an international "global" payments company.

On a side note, PBT's new "hall of fame" marketer, John Costello, will be a guest on Webmaster Radio's on November 23rd to talk about Pay By Touch and his new role with the company. Stay tuned for how to listen to the podcast or click the link below...

WebmasterRadio.FM Hit Show 'DishyMix'
Announces November Guest List:

Some of the global Web 2.0 and digital marketing industry's most famous names and fascinating individuals including John Costello of Pay By Touch, formerly CMO of Home Depot, will be our guest on November 23rd.

Pay By Touch Installing at 18 Scotts

Marilyn Surfus realized last weekend that she’d forgotten her checkbook at home. But the slip didn’t stop her from buying groceries. She simply placed her finger on the scanner pad in the checkout lane at Scott’s Food & Pharmacy. The device compared hundreds of pre-selected points on her fingerprint for comparison with her data already on file. And the sale was approved.

Scott’s is piloting the Pay by Touch system at four of its Fort Wayne stores: the Dupont, Coventry, Georgetown and Stellhorn locations. Rick Zahm, Scott’s vice president of merchandising and operations, said the first units were installed last week. Company officials plan to install the devices in the chain’s 14 remaining northeast Indiana stores in about two weeks.

Krista Thomas, Pay by Touch spokeswoman, said Scott’s is the first company in northeast Indiana to adopt the high-tech payment system. Touch payments are accepted in 2,400 retail outlets in 44 states; 3.3 million people have enrolled in the system, Thomas said.

The technology allows consumers to enroll at a bright green kiosk near the front office. That process – which involves presenting a driver’s license, a voided check and making that initial finger scan – is all done electronically and takes about three or four minutes.

Afterward, the customer can simply touch the scanner at a checkout to have a purchase covered with money withdrawn from the customer’s checking account. The technology also allows for payments with debit and credit cards but, so far, Scott’s has opted to offer only Automatic Clearing House withdrawals from checking accounts. Such transactions have lower fees for merchants than debit purchases. Either way, the money is taken from the customer’s checking account.

After a person has enrolled in the system, he can use it to pay for purchases at any retailer that offers the option. Thomas said participating businesses include gas stations, convenience stores, banks and check-cashing companies.

Scott’s processed about 40 Pay by Touch transactions last weekend, including the one by Surfus, the company’s supervisor of bookkeeping and customer service. She previously enrolled in the system while visiting another grocery in Chicago. Scott’s has concentrated on signing up employees so that they can become familiar with the system and more easily explain it to curious customers.

Zahm, the Scott’s vice president, describes the system as the wave of the future – but one that will be quickly embraced in the present by customers who like to get in and out of stores quickly. “We can tell it’s going to be successful, based on signups,” Zahm said.

He declined to give exact numbers for competitive reasons. He also declined to put a dollar amount on installing the technology. Zahm said, however, that Pay by Touch shared the cost with the company.

Lindsay Hancock, spokeswoman for The Fresh Market, said the Greensboro, N.C.-based chain hasn’t adopted the technology and isn’t considering it, as far as she knows. Some consumers have been reluctant to embrace the high-tech process. Thomas, of San Francisco-based Pay by Touch, acknowledged that some people are hesitant to register because they don’t want their fingers scanned. But soon, even they realize how safe the transaction is compared to writing checks or using debit cards.

“There’s usually an initial concern about security and privacy,” she said. “And we respond that we have the most robust security that can exist.” (see Contactless Cards Provide Contacts and Numbers) to read about real flaws in privacy)

The company works with IBM and doesn’t store any of the data at retail locations. In fact, the cashier doesn’t even see the customer’s checking account number, adding a layer of security, Thomas said.

Pay by Touch has talked to participants and found that older adult women appreciate not having to carry their purses, which could be lost or stolen, Thomas said.

Pay By Touch in Zagara's Marketplace

Here's a story from NewsChannel 5 in Cleveland Heights about the launch of Pay By Touch in Zagara's Marketplace....

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Say goodbye to your debit cards, credit cards and checks: purchasing power is now at our fingertips with new technology you could soon see everywhere.

One local grocery store is on the cutting edge of science, being the first to offer fingerprint scanning as a payment method, NewsChannel5 reported. Pay-by-touch is new to Zagara's Marketplace and to northeast Ohio. It is a free service that allows you to pay for your purchases by scanning your fingertip at checkout. When you register, your fingerprint is linked to your checking account, eliminating the need to carry cards, checks or cash. Store owner John Zagara researched the technology for two years before bringing the scanners to his Cleveland Heights store.

He said it's not only for customer convenience, it's to keep them safe.

"Shoppers are always looking away from their shopping cart, inside their shopping cart is their purse. Someone grabs their purse, they don't know who it was. This is way more secure," Zagara said. "You don't even need your purse."

I was talking to a police officer who was doing some shopping and he said, "this has got to be the safest transaction that he's seen out there". Criminals or ID thieves would shy away from this system all day long he said. "I've got to get my dad in here and get him signed up."

Chicagoan is 3 Millionth PBT Enrollee

Pay By Touch Provides Three Million Americans With Today's Most Convenient and Secure Payment Option
Last Update: 10:01 AM ET Sep 27, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 27, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Mary Rodriguez was celebrated as Pay By Touch's three millionth member, after signing up at a Jewel-Osco grocery store located in Chicago, Ill., at Wrigley Field on Sept. 26, 2006. (PRNewsFoto/Pay By Touch)

Pay By Touch(TM), the leader in integrated biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions has achieved a major milestone with the enrollment of three million members.

The Pay By Touch biometric payment system is quickly gaining traction with consumers who find it more secure, faster and easier to use than traditional payment systems.

Major retailers nationwide, including Jewel-Osco in Chicago, have implemented Pay By Touch in their stores to improve customer service, speed up the checkout line and reduce risks associated with fraud.

Chicagoan Mary Rodriguez is being celebrated as Pay By Touch's three millionth member, after signing up at a Jewel-Osco grocery store located on Narragansett Ave. in Chicago.

To commemorate the milestone, Pay By Touch will deposit $1,000 in Rodriguez' new Pay By Touch digital wallet, which can be accessed with the touch of a finger at more than 200 stores in the Chicagoland area, including all Jewel-Osco and Cub Foods locations, as well as a new Sunflower Market in Lincoln Park.

To broaden the celebration, Pay By Touch has declared Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006, 'Mary R. Day' at the Narragansett Avenue Jewel-Osco store. Pay By Touch will deposit $5.00 into the digital wallets of all new enrollees who sign up for its biometric payment service in the Narragansett Avenue store that day.

"I was excited to try the Pay By Touch system because I was really curious about how it works, and my kids think the whole idea is 'cool,' said Rodriguez, a mother of three and teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. "When I learned that it was actually safer than using my debit card, and saw how much easier it was than digging through my purse, I knew it was for me."

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Mary as a Pay By Touch member. With the touch of a finger, she joined the three million consumers that are already enjoying the convenience and security of biometric payment," said John Rogers, Pay By Touch's founder, chairman and CEO. "Chicagoans are busy, hardworking people who understand that Pay By Touch makes life easier."

The Pay By Touch system uses a simple finger scan to authorize an electronic withdrawal from a customer's existing checking account. Each fingerprint is unique, which helps prevent fraud or identity theft, and since there is nothing to carry, there is nothing to be lost or stolen.

A one time enrollment in the secure program takes only a few minutes to complete online or in person at participating stores. Members can link both their checking accounts and their merchant loyalty membership cards to the Pay By Touch system. Once enrolled, Pay By Touch members are able to use the Pay By Touch system at any participating store.