The retail industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven the growing importance of technologies such as NFC payments, smart contracts, and biometric authentication. In the last three years alone, there have been over 133,000 patents filed and granted in the retail industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Cybersecurity: NFC payment protocols.
However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
70+ innovations will shape the retail industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the retail industry using innovation intensity models built on over 128,000 patents, there are 70+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, smart contracts and transaction data blockchain are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Biometric payments, and blockchain payments are two of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are user biometric authentication and e-commerce robotic process automation, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for cybersecurity in the retail industry
NFC payment protocol is a key innovation area in cybersecurity
Near-field communication (NFC) enables short-distance communication between card readers and some devices. NFC payments are accepted through iPhones, Android devices, smartwatches, laptops, tablets, and NFC-enabled credit cards. NFC technology enables businesses to accept payments conveniently and quickly without the intervention of employees.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 60 companies, spanning technology vendors, established retail companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of NFC payment protocols.
Key players in NFC payment protocols – a disruptive innovation in the retail industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to NFC payment protocols
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Leading players in the NFC payment protocols space in terms of patents filed are Samsung Group, Capital One Financial, Huawei Investment & Holding, Blaze Mobile, and Alphabet. Samsung offers Samsung Pay that employs NFC technology to send a debit or credit card’s information to a payment terminal enabled with NFC. It uses magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology.
Leading players in the NFC payment protocols in terms of application diversity are Apple, Allegion, Syndefense, and British American Tobacco.
Leading players in NFC payment protocols in terms of geographic reach are ViVOtech, Princo, INSIDE Contactless, and The Cauldron London.
NFC mobile payments are suitable payments options for a variety of businesses that include professional service providers, restaurants, and retailers.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the retail industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Cybersecurity in Retail.
GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
