Trust. It’s a staple in any relationship, business or personal, but it’s also a big deal in the mobile payments world. The availability of mobile payments technology has been as rapid-fire as the process of paying via mobile is, with everyone producing their own retail and banking apps to meet on-the-go needs. However, the actual adoption of mobile payments has been a little slower than anticipated. This is largely due to two factors: mobile payment security and streamlining.
Mobile technology allows us to streamline a lot of processes and provides a lot of conveniences, and this is true of payments as well. However, the stasis in mobile payments adoption has partially come down to a matter of streamlining even more. Right now, there are several mobile wallets available to the consumer. The Kings of ‘Pays’, otherwise known as Apple, Android and Samsung, have had great success implementing mobile wallets in businesses all over, creating a seamless shopping experience, but mobile can still be improved.
In a report shared by Mobile Payments Today, some information regarding what will brighten the future of mobile came to light straight from the consumer’s mouths. Mobile payment users are projected to increase from 50.8 million to 76 million between 2017 and 2020. That is approximately a 24% to 33% increase, and along with it the transaction value of mobile payment technology is expected to double in that time, resulting in approximately $62 billion.
Part of this expected boom in mobile is due to millennials, as well as Generation Z. In this year alone, it’s estimated that more than one-third of millennial smartphone owners will opt for mobile payments, and that’s just in the U.S.
Millennials between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are showing similar statistics for their own mobile payment usage. With the convenient tap-and-go process of mobile, these aren’t surprising facts to learn, but the still slow adoption of mobile begs the question: what more do we want from mobile?
We now know the answer, and we said it earlier; streamlining and security. Currently, most mobile wallets and mobile payments apps are not simple enough for consumers’ liking. Rather than a mobile wallet that simply stores your financial information but still takes you to a third party to actually make payments, the ideal for the future of mobile wallets is to combine everything in one place. Mobile payments, credit card information, rewards programs, NFC, one-click and automatic payments, eReciepts and coupons — in other words, it’s the whole nine yards in one compact universal app.
This has already been proven to be in the realm of possibility for all mobile wallets in the future. The Starbucks app has made enormous strides in the direction of this desired mobile future with its app. It now has the ability to make mobile payments, redeem reward points and order in advance to create a convenient and fast customer experience. This is what consumers want in the future of mobile payments, but mobile payment security has to be a part of it.
There is still a lot of concern about the mobile payment security, in lieu of security breaches of large brands like Chipotle. The most common barrier to mobile payments adoption is fear of identity theft or other mobile payment security risks, which means creating a platform of digital trust is essential to the future of mobile. Lucky for mobile, there is already a good start to this platform.
While there is risk in any form of payment, mobile payments have several options, tokenization and HCE (host card emulation) to name a couple. Google adopted HCE, which emulates a payment card on a mobile device via software, is good mobile payment security. HCE does not require changes to already existing NFC-based payments, and as such has established itself as playing a role in creating frictionless commerce experiences and building that platform of digital trust. It is an essential part of the mobile payments future.
Mass adoption of mobile payments will be built on a platform of digital trust and a universally streamlined mobile commerce process. Customers want convenience in commerce and mobile technology can provide that, but there is always room for improvement, starting with the merging of mobile wallets and mobile payments through a streamlined and secure channel.
Looking to merge mobile into payment processing at your business? Come to Payline for easy-to-use mobile payments solutions.
This piece was written by Lauren Minning, Content Specialist for Payline.
