Mobile Payment Trends all Entrepreneurs Need to Know About
by Abdul Aziz Mondal Entrepreneurship Published on: 01 September 2018 Last Updated on: 08 November 2024
Over the last five-plus years, mobile payments have grown significantly. In fact, according to reports from TechCrunch, it is likely that around 90 percent of mobile device users will have made a mobile payment by the year 2020.
With consumers doing more and more on their smartphones, and at the same time expecting businesses to keep up and provide related payment options, it’s important for entrepreneurs to get on the mobile bandwagon for payment processing.
Keep in mind, too, that you need to stay up to date on the latest trends and developments in the mobile arena if you want to continue to impress your customers and convert as many sales as possible. Read on for some of the key mobile payment trends to know about today.
Loyalty Programs Incorporated into Payments :
Loyalty programs are used by a lot of businesses because of the benefits they bring. For instance, they help to increase transaction amounts, generate more repeat business, increase referrals, and bring in new customers. When it comes to mobile payments, we’re currently seeing more and more tech being developed to incorporate loyalty programs, so that organizations can fully utilize these marketing methods in all their transactions.
While in the past most payment systems for mobile devices were reasonably basic when it came to collating data about purchases or generating personalized offers for customers, today things are different. Newer systems enable businesses to design their own digital payment schemes which include customized loyalty programs.
Entrepreneurs should utilize this development to better understand consumer behavior (via the analytics that tends to now come with mobile payment software), and then design the most effective loyalty perks which generate interest from customers. Incorporate loyalty programs into your mobile payments so that shoppers can track their loyalty balances directly on their smartphones or tablets, too, as well as cash-in rewards, and transfer points.
Internet of Things :
Another trend making the leap from other areas of life to mobile payments is the Internet of Things (IoT). More and more brands are now focusing on this area in payments, by making secure transactions available through a variety of internet-enabled devices.
For instance, IBM and Visa, along with other large firms, are currently developing systems which will enable companies to add payments to the appliances, vehicles, wearables and other connected gadgets consumers use often. Visa, for example, has created their Visa Token Service. This is tech which embeds payments into products using a unique digital identifier.
In the future, we’ll likely see people being able to pay for things using their mobile devices in many new places. For example, paying for tolls and petrol at tollbooths and gas stations, or washing machines that automatically re-order laundry detergent online when on-hand supplies get low. Many consumers will eventually leave their physical wallets at home, and use cell phones or smartwatches to pay for goods and services when they’re out and about.
In fashion retail, interesting innovations are occurring at the moment. For instance, Oak Labs is planning to digitize change rooms, by setting up interactive systems. Their designs mean retailers can embed payment systems into mirrors in dressing rooms, and that, in turn, consumers can pay for items while they’re still in the room, or even order different styles or sizes on the spot if required. Businesses will also benefit, not just from the more immediate orders, but also from the many insights about customers that can be gleaned from the technology.
Biometrics :
With security being such a big issue when it comes to payments these days, and many consumers being worried about handing over their payment information, biometrics is set to be the next big thing in mobile. To alleviate concerns, new payment systems are beginning to rely on biometrics (that is, identification done through methods like the fingerprint, eye, or facial feature scans, or voice recognition) to authenticate transactions. This is likely going to be used in place of the current popular two-factor authentication (credit card and pin).
A big benefit of this that businesses need to take note of is that conversion rates should increase because customers feel safer knowing their transactions are secure. In fact, according to details from Juniper Research, payments which leverage mobile biometrics are likely to be valued at nearly $2 billion soon enough.
In addition, in the future, we will probably see the need for shoppers to carry about smartphones or wearable connected devices eliminated, because biometric scanners may actually be put directly into cash registers. These built-in devices will be able to verify, process, and approve transactions on the spot.
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