Fast Forward: The Way to Pay
In our ongoing effort to provide ever more convenient payment products, Fast Forward may represent the ultimate achievement—providing unmatched levels of convenience and flexibility. The program is currently available at participating Safeway stores, the proving ground for many successful Blackhawk Network products.
Simply by entering a Fast Forward cardless number along with its corresponding PIN (personal identification number), customers can now pay for their groceries directly from their existing checking account while simultaneously receiving loyalty program credits. There is no need to carry any cash, checks or cards at all to save and pay at Safeway.
This convenient cardless payment program has been proven to stimulate more frequent customer visits and boost store revenues. And because Fast Forward leverages the ACH network for payment settlement, it offers merchants a significant reduction in transaction costs when compared to traditional branded payment network interchange fees.
In the coming year, this program will expand to Blackhawk Network's other retail distribution partners. The value of this new, merchant centric payment network will significantly increase as more partners begin issuing and accepting Fast Forward as a form of payment.
And when consumers seek out participating Fast Forward retailers, everyone will win as sales go up and costs come down. Because once customers experience the unrivalled convenience of a product like Fast Forward, there's no going back.