Stay informed of the direction that consumers, particularly millennials and Gen Z, are driving payment method adoption.
Changing payment preferences are a fact of life in the merchant services business. Take the paper check. They used to be standard — but try handing one to a teenage sales clerk now. Payment changes occur over time, but what causes different types of payments to rise or fall out of favor? New technologies often spawn new payment possibilities, and providers push these into the mainstream for consumers to adopt. When EMV emerged, it was the riskiness of non-compliance that made the new payment standard non-negotiable. However, consumers have risen as the primary force in payment method adoption.
Payment changes driven by consumers.
Some payment methods on the rise with consumer support behind them include the following.
- Digital wallets. Sometimes, people just need a reason — and that’s happened with the digital wallet boom we’ve witnessed in the past three years. Digital wallets weren’t brand-new in 2020 when COVID-19 emerged. But health worries quickly gave people a use case for a technology they once largely ignored in the U.S. Americans discovered that contactless payments allowed them to maintain social distancing and limit touching shared devices, and they've been using them since. A PYMNTS survey found that consumer trust in mobile wallets and the perception that they’re more secure than physical wallets are leading to long-term adoption.
- Text to pay. Paying by text message is one of the biggest payment changes in consumer behaviors. Why? It’s convenient, easy to navigate, and even integrates with the digital wallets installed on millions of phones. One of the reasons driving the adoption of this payment method is popular with younger adults; 62% of Millennials and Gen Z consumers under 35 would consider text-to-pay options. They don’t have to go fumbling for a card or wait to get home to find a printed invoice. Text notifications offer a handy reminder to pay without delay.
- QR code payments. Nearly 17% growth of QR code payments through the end of the decade is something that merchant services providers should pay attention to. This easy-to-use option is second nature to digital natives who use their smartphones for just about everything. Consumers simply point their phone camera at a QR code embedded in a website or printed and displayed at a point of sale. A quick scan leads to a page where users enter payment details or call up the cards in their digital wallet. This is attractive for merchants who don’t want to invest in expensive terminal hardware or need to extend their business outside the store walls.
How to cash in on payment changes.
Don’t let payment changes catch you by surprise. Millennials and Gen Z are rewriting the rules, and trends move at a rapid pace. That’s why keeping tabs on the latest payment trends will impact our sales partners’ success. Get in touch today to learn more about the payment trends that will maximize your business.
