Updated on November 22, 2021
Buying-and-‘Cell’ing: Evolving Mobile Payments
The payment processing industry is on its way to playing a new leading role in the United States: mobile payments. Within the next two years, mobile commerce is forecasted to make up half of all digital commerce revenue in the U.S. (Gartner). That means that as much as 50% of all digital transactions will be conducted not only without a wallet but also without anything other than your cell phone.
So, how are these mobile transactions conducted, exactly? Mobile transactions can occur through a slew of cyber-payment options and processes, including those via smart bar-codes, messages, browsers, or apps. As technology advances, so does the ease with which we can buy and sell.
However, the rise in mobile commerce popularity is not simply due to convenience: it’s also due to the influence of major technology players. Big names like Apple, Google, Facebook, Samsung have helped attract an audience to the up and coming mobile payment processing industry. Often paving the way for tech revolutions, these brands are no strangers to the parts they can play in a changing marketplace. If anything, their involvement in mobile commerce is a testament to the size of the revolution that it will soon become.
New characters have stepped up to the stage, as well. Square, for one, focuses on making mobile transactions commonplace for any kind of business. On the business-side of things, mobile commerce is approaching a new way to engage potential and existing customers: through loyalty-point apps and other easily implemented deals. Attracting new business is a sure way to attract new entrepreneurs to the new way to run their operations. And where there’s smoke – there’s fire. All the buzz around this emerging industry implies a change in which buyers (not just sellers) are interested.
Consumers are drawn to the shift towards paperless and coinless payments. No change weighing you down, no receipts piling up. This is a shift that simplifies more than just day-to-day transactions, it simplifies financial planning; it promises increased security; it stores valuable information in the palm of your hand.
It seems that ‘credit or debit?’ has finally met its match: ‘swipe or tap?’
