When virtual reality shopping finally becomes the norm, WorldPay wants to make sure consumers will have a way to pay for those virtual pants.
The payments processor developed a way to bring payments into VR, utilizing the technology to create the same experience of tapping a card on an EMV terminal—except, the card is virtual, the terminal is virtual, and the room the terminal is hosted in is also virtual.
However, the experience of actually paying is kept as close to a real-life experience as possible.
Currently, users of WorldPay’s POC can tap-and-pay within the virtual environment for purchases less than £30(about $39)—anything more than that, and consumers will have to input a PIN number into a virtual floating keypad.
This POC fits in with the growing interest of VR technology in financial services (as well as the growing number of virtual reality headsets, offered by companies like Samsung and Google).
Even incumbents are getting curious—Bank of America Merrill Lynch just launched a virtual reality marketing campaign, for instance, complete with “experiences” one can view on Samsung’s Gear and Google’s Cardboard VR devices.
Take a look at WorldPay’s POC concept in the video below: