Dominance of Mobile Wallets

 Dominance of Mobile Wallets

In 2019, mobile wallets overtook credit cards to become the highly adopted payment type globally. Digital wallets offer flexibility to users to store multiple payment methods in one digital home and turn cash into electronic money required for online or in-store purchases. Financial institutions have already started to embrace the digital wallet trend by offering virtual cards to business customers. The virtual cards stored in digital wallets consist of details like 16-digit card number, CVV code, date of expiry and work just like the physical plastic card. Currently only 37% of merchants support mobile payments at the point of sale, but with the rising adoption, merchants are willing to invest in technologies facilitating digital wallets. The virtual wallets can save money due to low processing costs as they limit transaction values and frequency. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is improving the user experience with regards to transactions with ChatBots, designed to execute and robotize essential exchanges as per the user's interest. Besides, cryptographic money-based e-wallets are being embraced by new companies to small-medium organizations for storing digital money. Smart voice technology is contributing to the growth of smart voice wallets ever since Amazon propelled the principle of this platform, which is now being followed by Google and Apple.

E-Commerce Boom Accelerating Digital Payment Market Growth

E-commerce growth at an exponential rate is creating shock waves, and the sonic boom is reverberating across the FinTech sector. The growth of many e-commerce companies is driven by the kind of financial services they provide. Digital transactions make it convenient for the buyer and seller to make transactions and remain loyal to the market space. The COVID-19 pandemic added a different dimension to e-commerce innovation, introducing newer trends such as payment alternatives at checkouts (not with digital wallets), virtual cards, QR codes, and other touchless transactions. Besides, the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) trend is dominating the e-commerce industry as it relieves the financial burden on the buyer. BNPL involves a soft credit check, so the consumers can buy what they need, keep the inventory moving, and pay overtime without affecting their credit score. BNPL provides businesses with much-needed liquidity and greater flexibility at the checkout.

Influence of COVID-19 Pandemic on Digital Payment Market Growth

Digital payment systems have moved beyond their peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers and bill payments. The COVID-19 pandemic allowed digital payment systems to showcase their strengths, such as a strong understanding of hyper-local markets and its ability to establish strong local partnerships. Businesses and consumers increasingly "went digital" for providing and purchasing goods and services online. When the pandemic hit, people did not want to touch or exchange cash due to the paranoia of catching the infection from physical currencies. Several governments around the world introduced digital financial transfers to provide COVID-assistance. Owing to lockdown measures, consumers shifted to online platforms, which catapulted the demand for digital payment systems. Now, digital platforms have become an essential component of people's lives, and consumers are more likely to continue shopping online in the post-pandemic period. The dramatic shift in consumer behavior is likely to augment the demand for e-payment systems even more. Therefore, companies are focusing their attention on digital mediums to meet the new customer demands and thrive businesses in the changing market scenario. Organizations are reimagining customer journeys to reduce friction and provide new security features. Payment companies such as PayPal and Square Cash are staffing up across the board to better understand the rearrangement of societal norms and stabilize the business in the near future.

e-Payment Systems are the Future

With increasing smartphone and internet penetration, consumers are becoming tech-savvy, which presents endless opportunities for the digital payment markets. Post-pandemic, digital payment systems are anticipated to continue to flourish over the years to come. While cards remain the first choice for payments around the world, mobile wallets are quickly gaining traction. The traditional cash flow is declining in bank branches and ATMs, demonstrating a power move towards a cashless society. Currently, China dominates the global mobile wallet consumption, followed by South Korea. However, there are still many countries that are highly dependent on cash due to lack of trust towards financial institutions and lack of proper broadband infrastructure, etc. In the near future, social media-initiated payments, biometric payments, voice-activated payments are likely to become mainstream in developing countries as well.

Cybersecurity and Privacy Concerns with Online Payment Solutions

Cybersecurity and privacy threats have become a troubling concern with the increasing incidences of online fraud. According to the Mastercard survey, one out of four consumers experienced some kind of fraud in 2020, ramping up the cybercrime rate by 49%. In the first half of 2020, online scams increased by 73.8% from 2019. However, adopting new-age technologies such as multifactor authentication, biometrics, 3D security, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning can help control fraudulent activities such as phishing, virus attacks, etc. Shifting to contactless cards, QR codes, and tokenization can also help mitigate risks associated with digital payment solutions. Besides, sensitizing end-users about the secure application of e-payment solutions through amplifying efforts towards building financial literacy can help to prevent frauds. The emergence of mobile commerce and the evolution of e-payment platforms backed by robust security solutions can help to drive the goal of making the economy truly cash-less.

According to TechSci research report on "Global Payment Gateway Market By Type (Hosted, Self-hosted & Bank Integrated), By Enterprise Size (SME and Large Enterprise), By End-User (Retail, Travel & Hospitality, Healthcare, Education, Government, Utilities & Others), By Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2026", the global payment gateway market is expected to cross USD15 billion mark in 2019, registering a CAGR of 22% by 2026. The growth can be attributed to the increasing demand for online transactions, rising broadband connectivity, and exponential growth of e-commerce across the world.