Cashless and fearless: predicting the future of mobile payments
Not only are they a convenient method one can use to pay for goods and services, mobile payments are also quite safe and secure. Long gone are the days when people would carry a stack of cash in their pockets worrying whether they would get lost or – even worse – get stolen. Long gone and forgotten, we might add. At least in some parts of the world.
Completely Cashless
Sweden is a country understood to be a poster child for cashless payment methods. This European nation is expected to go completely cash-free in just five years with only 13% of money transactions currently being made with cash. The future is theirs to shape.
Business Insider is sharing a report from Sweden’s central bank which illustrates a rapid development in the reshaping of this country’s financial system which has recorded a 30% drop in notes and coins circulation between 2012 and 2014 and more than halved during the past decade.
And although many world countries are years behind in following such a revolutionary rate, the numbers recorded from around the globe indicate a clear trend. Predicting a direction towards which the mobile payments are headed does not seem like a difficult task.
China is another country fearlessly hurling towards a cashless society.
Mobile payments in China showed whopping increase from January to October 2017 when a record $12.8 trillion was recorded by consumers who are moving from money and credit cards to a more convenient method. Chinese boom managed to overshadow the number recorded in the United States last year with eMarketer data claiming the US number stood at $49.3 billion.
Chinese surge is largely down to the fact popular mobile payment apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay reached over to consumers from the most rural areas and allowed them to go from cash to mobile, thus overlooking the many convenient arguments credit cards and cheques might have had to offer.
New Horizons
Mobile payment providers have been given the ability to expand the horizon and new payment facilities are emerging in leaps and bounds.
The market itself is driving the changes forward and customers now have more options than ever – starting from wearables which incorporate payments abilities into accessories such as watches, bands and even rings.
Apple and Android as the two leading mobile software suppliers could easily lose their supremacy in the future, with payment methods branching out to Fitbit and Garmin fitness devices to accommodate the needs of their (pro)active customers.
In that regard, sport, leisure, online gaming and other pastime activities are the main niches payment-oriented companies will start to pursue in the future. For now, however, selected mobile payment methods are very much leading the line in this particular sector.
When it comes down to basics such as every day shopping, the widespread use of mobile payments and their incorporation by a wide range of retailers is making life easier and – in one strong word – different. Thanks to its rapid growth, the very world of retail is understood to be going through a significant reinvention.
Making Life Easier
More than 90% of retail sales is still done in-shops, in great deal via the cashless options available. Customers are expecting the retailers to embrace the wind of change as a genuine need to actually go out and visit a physical store is diminishing.
Amazon are redefining shopping in that regard with their Go stores across the United States. Having expanded into traditional grocery with Whole Foods, Go stores are now expected to open in Chicago and San Francisco.
The very concept of Amazon’s Go stores – get in and get out without the checkout process – is still very much frowned upon by many, but it’s another ring of change funnelling down from the unrelenting pace of payment evolution. Or revolution if you like it better.