No looking back for mobile payments as we approach the final frontier
In February this year, the number of smartphone users worldwide surpassed a whopping three billion and is forecast to grow by several hundred million more in the next few years. And it’s easy to see why. The feature evolution of smart devices has extended far beyond just making calls and texts to include apps that have become, for just about everyone, an essential part of daily life.
It’s no surprise then that the world has also moved towards a place where smartphones are actively replacing unnecessary or increasingly outdated payment devices that are simply unable to offer comparative possibilities in the customer experience. In a world that is rapidly shifting to digital channels, accelerated by consumer demands and external forces such as COVID, businesses are seeking ways to innovate across every aspect of the customer journey, and in particular payments, which has remained relatively unchanged for many years. Where previous hardware-based payment technologies created a bottleneck at the check-out and provided no way for the merchant to capture critical consumer data, software-based payment technologies on mobile devices open up a world of CX innovation and data capture possibilities that have previously been unavailable. And consumers know this. Today’s empowered customers expect seamless experiences that harness data for personalisation and happen through their most trusted channel – mobile. And these expectations extend to every industry, including those most sacred such as banking and payments.
Creating a frictionless, more inclusive omnichannel experience has therefore quickly become a necessity as businesses transform to meet the changing digital norms. A mobile-first approach has emerged as the clear way forward in achieving this. That is, utilising the most used devices (mobiles) to accept payments while at the same time augmenting the customer experience. It’s the obvious next step in mobile device evolution.
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Source: No looking back for mobile payments as we approach the final frontier
