Align with these trends to grow your portfolio in 2022 and beyond.
Ask anyone in the industry, and they’ll probably tell you how the pandemic is perhaps the biggest agent of change for payments. The disruption of 2020 compressed years’ worth of consumer evolution into months, if not weeks. Now, analysts and experts expect we’re in for more of the same in the year ahead. Keep your eye on these hot payment trends, from contactless card-present and mobile commerce to omnichannel and B2B transactions.
Contactless payments.
Statistics show the contactless payment market could be worth $358 billion by 2025, a massive leap over its $63 billion value in 2019 before the coronavirus shook everything up. Given all that’s happened over the past 18 months, it’s not so far-fetched to think the habits people picked up won’t stick around for the long haul. But 42% of consumers say the safest way to pay is by tapping their credit cards, and this payment method also got high marks for speed (37%) and convenience (31%).
Ecommerce is now mcommerce.
The last time you bought something online, were you on your laptop or your smartphone? If you’re like much of America, you probably tapped your phone to complete your newest purchase, joining the nearly 80% of consumers who prefer to pay on the go.
All of this swiping and scrolling makes mobile wallets a payment trend to watch in 2022. Tens of millions of Americans have installed Apple Pay (43.9%), Google Pay (25.0%), and Samsung Pay (16.3%) on their devices, illustrating the mobile wallet’s market potential. With Gen Z’s digital natives most quickly flocking to this intuitive payment alternative, along with click-savvy millennials, expect to see strong growth ahead.
If there’s one factor fueling the mobile wallet’s rise, it might be the second-nature ease of using the same method in a store as paying on the go. Consumers can activate their saved cards for contactless in-store checkout powered by near-field communication (NFC) technology. Then, they can watch the same interface pop up when it’s time to pay for a product they see on Instagram. This seamless experience might prove to be the secret sauce to converting holdouts into both mobile-wallet users and stickier long-term customers.
A true omnichannel solution.
By now, you probably know that most people have embraced the omnichannel lifestyle. Even if they’d scratch their heads if you asked them to define it, they know they just want to shop the way they want. This “consumer is king” mentality has never rung truer than it does in today’s any channel, anytime world. COVID-19 accelerated this payment trend. Now, most shoppers give little thought to buying a new dress on their desktop computer then dashing off to the store to pick it up the same day. However, merchants need your expertise to help deliver on the omnichannel payment trend with solutions that allow them to offer seamless experiences across all channels.
Business payments.
How money changes hands between companies, thanks to the Industry 4.0 push to digitally transform processes, is also an important payment trend to watch. You’ve already witnessed the slow and steady downfall of paper checks, which a Mastercard survey found as the payment method most susceptible to fraud (74%). In the coming months and years, you’ll see merchants adopt digitally based transactions, making this a key payment trend on the horizon.
Beyond their comparably lower risk, digital payments unlock new levels of efficiency and automation. Businesses can set payments to recur as needed, potentially dodging late fees and other charges that bite the bottom line.
But the data from digital payments yields game-changing insights, too. Finance chiefs say accounts payable data helps them better manage their cash (70%), suppliers (63%), and strategic operations like forecasting, planning, and budgeting (53%) — all of that just by making the leap from physical to digital.
In 2022 and beyond, be ready to capitalize on the opportunities these four payment trends create and grow your ISO Agent business.
Contact North American Bancard to learn more.
