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Media Release

Commonwealth Bank set to disrupt the payments space

CBA set to disrupt the payments space

31 March 2015

Commonwealth Bank launches global first-to-market EFTPOS tablet that will redefine the payments process and transform the customer experience.

Commonwealth Bank has today launched an innovative, new EFTPOS tablet which is set to transform how businesses interact with their customers and disrupt the payments space.

Available from today, Commonwealth Bank’s Albert has been engineered to help businesses improve and tailor their customer offering and gain unique business insights through a more mobile, user-friendly, secure and customisable point-of-sale device.

As Commonwealth Bank’s flagship merchant device, Albert will operate on the open-source platform, Pi Business Network.

Commonwealth Bank is currently working with leading Australian businesses including David Jones and Amalgamated Holdings Limited (AHL, which features leading brands – Event Cinemas, QT Hotels and Resorts, Rydges Hotels and Resorts and Thredbo), alongside Michelin-starred dim sum restaurant, Tim Ho Wan and one of Australia’s leading hospitality providers, The Keystone Group (Jamie’s Italian, Chophouse, Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, Manly Wine, Hugos Manly, Gazebo Kings X, The Winery Surry Hills and The Loft). Foot Locker, Mogas Regional and EasyFuel are currently building customised apps for Albert.

Dwayne Bonner, Technical Director, Earthling Investments commented, “The introduction of Albert will be a complete technological game-changer for two of our businesses, Mogas Regional and EasyFuel. Albert offers an open and easy to develop platform that gives us the opportunity in our fuel distribution business, Mogas Regional, to fully integrate our enterprise resource planning package across the entire end to end supply chain. And in our fuel discount card business, EasyFuel, Albert gives us the ability to enhance the whole cardholder/retailer experience in more ways than we ever imagined.

“For us, one of the main points of difference Albert offered was the ability to take our ideas and develop a solution with the full support of Commonwealth Bank every step of the way."

According to Gary Roach, Managing Director Payments & Cash Management Services, Commonwealth Bank, Albert’s potential is limitless and is set to revolutionise the point of sale experience.

“The payments landscape is rapidly evolving as Australians embrace new technology and there is a growing need for a more powerful, open platform which can adapt to changing customer needs, and provide real-time analytics and business insights. Albert has the potential to dramatically shift the way businesses take payments, offering merchants the ability to completely customise the customer experience from start to finish,” said Mr Roach.

With more than 90 per cent of Australians1 saying their shopping experience would be improved if the sales process was tailored around their needs, the customisable nature of Albert means the EFTPOS tablet will complement a wide range of businesses including the hospitality and retail sectors.

“Our significant investment in the development of Albert demonstrates how serious we are about being the first-in-market to deliver new technological innovations to our customers and completely change the point of sale experience. Our ongoing commitment will ensure a vibrant ecosystem of app developers and apps in App bank – ensuring we can continue to evolve for our customers’ ever-changing business environment,” said Mr Roach.

Research finds widespread consumer frustration with queues

In fact, ‘Lost sales research’ by Commonwealth Bank has revealed 73 per cent2 of Australians have abandoned a purchase in a retail store due to the length of the queue and most people (55 per cent3) leave a store if they have to wait more than five minutes. Worth noting, the average price of an abandoned sale is $94, meaning Australian retailers are potentially losing out on sales worth $1.2 billion a year4.  

Albert can help businesses recognise their most loyal patrons, let customers split the bill with ease, and even put an end to lengthy queues at the counter by enabling staff to accept payments at the table, on the shop floor, or even offsite at an event or function.

Commonwealth Bank has engineered Albert in partnership with global IT and design leaders Wincor Nixdorf and IDEO to create a portable and user-friendly tablet while still meeting the highest security standards, including supporting EMV chip and PIN transactions, and Payments Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard5.

Key features include the option to e-mail receipts and invoices, split the bill up to 10 ways, open a customer account that can be paid later, record and track daily, weekly and yearly payments, as well as collecting useful business analytics and insights.

The Albert EFTPOS tablet comes with both Wi-Fi and 3G built-in for ‘always-on’ connectivity and pre-loaded with the payment app and other CommBank app functions, including Split Bill, Cash Counter, Daily IQ, Open Tab and Community Giver.

Albert is exclusive to Commonwealth Bank and available today. To find out more about visit commbank.com.au/albert


Notes to editors about the research

Results are sourced from an online survey, ‘Lost sales research’ – of a nationally representative sample of 1,032 Australians aged 18+, conducted by independent research company ACA Research between 10 -13 February 2015.

1 ‘Lost sales research’, percentage of respondents who said shopping experience would be a lot or a little better when asked ‘How much do you think your shopping experience would be improved if the sales process was customised around your needs?’ (e.g. sales assistant can check items are in stock, add in loyalty discounts and take payment on the spot). 2 ‘Lost sales research’, percentage of respondents who did not select ‘Have never abandoned a purchase because of the length of the queue’ when asked ‘Thinking about the last time you abandoned a purchase in a retail store due to the length of the queue, what was the approximate value of the goods you were looking to buy?’. 3 ‘Lost sales research’, percentage of respondents who said 5 minutes or less when asked ‘What is the maximum time you are typically prepared to wait in a queue to pay for things in a retail store before you decide to abandon the purchase?’. 4 ‘Lost sales research’, $94 is the average value given by Australians who had abandoned purchases when asked ‘Based on your personal experiences, which one of the following is the worst part of shopping in Australian retail stores?’ The figure of $1.2 billion is reached by extrapolating this amount to the Australian population aged 18% (based on ABS data). 5 PCI (Payments Card Industry) is a global industry body which sets required security standards for payments terminals.