Celebrating The Future of Payments in Nijmegen 16. July 2014
NXP has been a partner of the famous ‘Vierdaagsefeesten’ (Four-Day Festivities) in Nijmegen for many years, but this year a new dimension will be added to the partnership. With the introduction of a card that will allow visitors to make contactless payment at the Valkhof Festival – one of the party venues during the ‘Vierdaagsefeesten.’
At the event, which takes place in the city center of Nijmegen from July 12th – July 18th, attendees are able to make use of the special card fitted with an NXP MIFARE DESFire chip. By introducing the card, the 44 year old ‘Vierdaagsefeesten’ is being propelled into the future, catching onto the new payments trend.
The ‘Vierdaagsefeesten’ was first held in 1970 takes place every summer. The festival coincides with the Four- Day Marches in Nijmegen, which is the largest multiple day walking event in the world with 45,000 participants. During the Four-Day Marches numerous activities are organized in the town center as part of the ‘Vierdaagsefeesten’, including performances by various artists. The Marches and the ‘Vierdaagsefeesten’ collectively attract over 2.35 million visitors to the city each year, which makes it the perfect place for NXP to apply its ‘contactless’ chip technology.
The new way to pay
All bars and restaurants involved in the Valkhof Festival switched from the traditional tokens that visitors previously used to pay for their food and drinks, to a chip card enabling ‘cashless’ payments. It is expected that this method of payments is really going to take off and that soon visitors to the city center and the festival will be able to pay for their food and drinks with the same card. After all, the benefits for consumers and entrepreneurs are clear:
- No need to carry cash
- Reduced chance of fraud
- Pay quickly and securely with less errors
- Waiting times for visitors are reduced, sales go up and there is less admin involved
- Sellers can gain more insight into the spending patterns for each user
- Sellers have the possibility to add other applications, such as loyalty and age controls
- New possibilities for customer interaction and marketing
The organizers of the ‘Vierdaagsefeesten’ have opted for the payment system by Community Concepts International (CCI) which does not depend on the Internet. This is the big difference between this system and transactions involving bank cards. In the case of bank cards, the payment terminal has to be connected to the Internet to process these.
Visitors can simply top up their card at a service point and then use it to pay for their purchases. They can reclaim the remaining balance within 5 days after the festival.
As long standing partners to this wonderful event it’s a great opportunity for us to be able to tangibly demonstrate how innovations from NXP can be used in practice right on our doorstep in Nijmegen.