Mastercard is helping consumers get the most out of its mobile payment platform, Masterpass, with the introduction of a vendor directory cataloguing every store that accepts payments from it.

The Digital Vendor Directory is a repository of all retailers and brands that are compatible with Masterpass as well as what mobile offerings they have for consumers. The New project is an attempt to motivate consumers to use Masterpass more often by helping them become aware of where it is a viable option.

“We have been a pioneer of digital commerce innovation for years and we are excited to be working with so many great partners to deliver new digital payment options to our issuers and cardholders around the world. Our Digital Vendor Directory will make it easier for issuers to learn about a wide range of digital offerings available to them, and is another way in which Mastercard is able to provide more choices for our customers and help bring digital payments for all cardholders,” said Kiki Del Valle, senior vice president, Digital Payments & Labs at Mastercard.

Digital Vendor Directory
Mastercard has been pushing its mobile payment platform hard in the past few months as the company shifts its focus towards mobile as the next big frontier when it comes to payments.

The credit card provider has embraced mobile payments possibly more than any other, and Masterpass has been at the heart of that.

Masterpass is accepted at a variety of retailers, but the company has been facing a problem in that consumers do not always know when and where Masterpass can be used.

To combat this, Mastercard is debuting the Digital Vendor Directory.

This new feature of the Masterpass platform is a database of all of the stores and retailers that accept Masterpass, as well as what other integrations they have with the platform.

Participating stores and retailers are labeled with their level of integration with Masterpass, with platinum meaning a company has the most amount of Masterpass compatibility.

The directory also helps facilitate transactions between customers and stores.

“At Payair Technologies, we are proud of our strengths in innovating the payment space and at the same time delivering with quality, following the highest security standards and regulations,” said Sören Babra, CEO and founder of Payair Technologies. “Banks are naturally cautious when planning and deploying new products that potentially can affect payments for millions of end users.

“Our experience and proven track record makes this process much easier for our customers. Mastercard is providing an open ecosystem, which benefits both financial institutions and fintech companies,” he said. “With the Digital Vendor Directory, financial institutions get scalable and global digital payment infrastructure solutions, while fintechs get access to APIs, documentation, sandboxes and trustworthy certifications in order to create innovative solutions,”

Mobile payment awareness
While mobile payments clearly have the confidence of those that offer them, such as Mastercard, consuemrs have been slow to take them up.

Mobile payments have been growing at a steady rate since their inception, but the numbers have not supported the massive explosion of growth that many hoped for.

This newest feature is a clear attempt to help push along consumer interest in mobile payments by making it easier to find out where and how to actually use them.

Many consumers are unfamiliar with the technology itself and may be confused at how best to use it.

Mastercard has been pushing Masterpass strongly, with numerous campaigns centered on bringing mobile payments to a variety of different locations and use cases.

Most recently, Masterpass expanded to South Africa (see story) and into consumers’ homes with a Grammy promotion that gave customers exclusive deals whenever a Grammy winner thanked the fans (see story).

Mastercard will likely continue to push for the growth of its mobile payments platform in the hopes that increased consumer interest will justify the resoruces it has poured into supporting it.

“We are proud to be listed in the Mastercard Digital Vendor Directory,” said Stefan Auerbach, Group Executive Mobile Security at G&D. “The G&D Convego Hub solution is key to our digital offering, and with integration to MDES it enables seamless access to secure mobile payment services, adding new options to Mastercard issuers. In addition, it provides manufacturers of wearables, mobile devices and other wallet issuers with secure and convenient payment functionality.”