• Stephane Wyper, VP, Startup Engagement & Acceleration at Mastercard


• 20.09.2017 08:00 am
undisclosed , Stephane Wyper is the Global Lead of MasterCard Start Path, the company’s effort to support innovative early stage startups around the world. The cutting-edge effort includes customized and operationally focused support, strategic investment, and direct access to key MasterCard customers. Since launch in early 2014, MasterCard has partnered with over 40 startups across the globe in areas including biometrics, big data, wearable technology, beacons, B2B payments, and logistics.

Despite the rapid growth in online retail, the vast majority of sales still happen in a brick and mortar setting. The physical store environment continues to be an invaluable part of the retailer playbook to help drive a great shopping experience. From a consumer perspective, the lines between digital and physical are being removed and they’re seeking a consistent and unified shopping experience across each channel. The future of retail is redesigning the physical store to make the shopping experience as digitally savvy as the shopper itself. 

Imagine going into your favorite store and trying on clothing, but then realizing one piece isn’t the right fit and the other not the right color. Instead of calling for a sales assistant, you’re able to continue the consumer journey right from your dressing room mirror. By interacting with the mirror, you’re able to see if your size is in-store, view color variations of your items and explore additional recommendations based on what you brought into the dressing room or purchased before. Once you’ve moved items into your cart you seamlessly transfer those into an app environment to complete the purchase and decide what items you want shipped or to take home. You decide to select in-store purchase and as you walk out, a sales associate is outside your fitting room with your items packaged and ready to go.

Who knew the future of retail was looking right back at us this entire time? Innovation should never be complicated and it isn’t about trying to solve for multiple things at the same time. The best innovation starts with solving for one tangible pain point and then expanding from there. In this case, that one thing that matters is always ensuring that a consumer knows immediately whether the product they are trying is available in any color or size, and then offering them the flexibility of taking it with them or having it sent to their home – all through a few clicks or swipes from the dressing room.

This is just a glimpse into how Mastercard is collaborating with leading innovators in retail technology, including Oak Labs, to reinvigorate the in-store experience together. Mastercard will introduce merchants a bundled IoT offering of our digital payment, loyalty and data capabilities combined with complementary technologies provided by partners, such as Oak Labs, that will power the success of retail going forward.

On September 23^nd, Marie Claire and Mastercard are partnering to bring this future retail experience to life through The Next Big Thing – a discovery in to what’s next in crave worthy products and shopping tech. A full look into the experience can be seen on The Next Big Thing dedicated microsite. 

This article originally appeared at; Mastercard