The six global merchants first out of the gate to enable loyalty and rewards at the POS for customers that want to use Apple Pay, will be using Verifone terminals to enable that capability.

Vin D’Agostino, Verifone’s Executive Vice President Of Commerce Enablement, spoke with MPD CEO Karen Webster shortly after the announcement about what the news means for helping implement more commerce strategies at the terminal.

“We are excited to work with our leading retailers and with Apple to enable what I think is a big step in the digital wallet,” D’Agostino said. “It gives us a chance to help this technology add more value to our clients – our merchants – by not just accepting payments with this exciting new form factor, but to actually help them do a better job of engaging their customers.”

The six retailers are: Dunkin’ Donuts, J.C. Penney’s, Kohl’s, Panera, Wegmans and Whole Foods.

“What we’ll be doing is working with [merchants] to add proprietary software on our devices that will recognize loyalty and relevant data, and route that data to the right place,” D’Agostino added. “The great experience that Apple is creating on the phone for consumers, we’re going to create for the merchants using our devices.”

For consumers, Verifone said the partnership will add another level of ease and convenience to both pay with Apple Pay and present merchant loyalty information stored in the Wallet app in iOS 9 — eliminating the need for physical loyalty cards. But for merchants, it will also help build the loyalty programs with their customers.

“If you continue to go down this path, you can see that the devices we are making do a lot more than just take card payments. For instance, the devices that this initial set of clients will use feature big displays and sound capabilities; they can be used to engage consumers in lots of different ways — not just accepting a card-based payment,” D’Agostino said.

“Engage” is a key word for Verifone, reflecting the branding of our new suites of commerce devices that Verifone is taking to market, and Verifone’s value proposition to consumers: helping merchants “engage consumers differently.”

“I think you can see can see us building the foundation and building the plumbing to enable these great experiences in brick-and-mortar retailers,” D’Agostino added.

“At the end of the day, accepting payments safely and securely is table stakes for the commerce game, but really, engaging consumers—and getting new consumers—and increasing sales is really what it’s about.” D’Agostino said.

Vin D’Agostino

Executive Vice President, Commerce Enablement

As the Executive Vice President of Commerce Enablement, Mr. D’Agostino is responsible for drafting Verifone’s “next chapter” strategy; altering the company’s business model through partnerships around the world, and managing select initiatives as they relate to enabling global commerce.

Prior to joining Verifone, Mr. D’Agostino led the Payment Strategy for JP Morgan Chase since 1985. In this role, he was responsible for enterprise strategy, corporate development activities and led the Payment Steering Committee.

During his time at JP Morgan Chase, Mr. D’Agostino led the development of the firm’s business strategy at LabMorgan, where he was responsible for the incubation and formation of a real-time e-payment platform, evaluating payment investments and providing payment domain expertise. Beyond these roles, he has held various leadership positions in general business and operations management in the securities and payments industry.

Throughout his career, Mr. D’Agostino has held various board positions; Chairman of clearXchange, Early Warning Services and Austrapay; Square advisor; Advisory Board of SVPCo; MasterCard Debit Advisory Board; BITS Advisory Board and Visa’s International Advisory Board.

Mr. D’Agostino holds a Bachelor of Science and MBA in Finance from St. John’s University.