5 Payment Trends that are Transforming Commerce in the World

As business and technology continue to collide and amplify one another, is it imperative that business owners are tuned into the rapidly evolving commerce landscape. These five trends are just a few of the proven innovations that will continue to dominate and dictate the direction of the commerce space for years to come.

Acceleration of Contactless Payment

Significantly aided by the recent global pandemic, the already hasty adoption of contactless payment has taken an even sharper trajectory. Given its ease of use and natural convenience, there had already existed a shift towards the use of tap to pay – be it from smartphones, smartwatches, or physical cards – however, doubling as a safety feature during the recent pandemic has displayed a multifaceted value proposition that will only continue to accelerate its widespread adoption.      

Diversification of Omnichannel Options

Omnichannel options in the context of commerce refers to the variety of ways in which businesses create avenues to give customers access to goods and services.  As you have likely seen, businesses such as grocery and department stores have begun to offer services such as same day delivery, curbside pickup, and online checkout in addition to traditional brick and mortar shopping. Each business will have differing channels available to leverage, the key however, lies in diversification. As we transition into a post-pandemic economy, the traditional brick and mortar experience is providing diminished utility and one solution for business owners to regain this lost value is to expand the ways in which their customers can reach goods and services – however your business is best suited to do so.

Embedded Finance

Embedded finance describes the subtle yet powerful erosion of the traditional transacting experience but more specifically, banking-like services offered by companies rather than banks. This includes rewards programs, deferred payment options, and seamlessly integrated checkout experiences pioneered by companies such as Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and others. The benefit of these strategies is twofold – on the business side the aim is to achieve higher customer retention as well as maximize lifetime the value of a customer, and on the customer side, increased checkout flexibility and purchase rewards are a no brainer. In fact, there exists a small degree of overlap from the previous bullet point as many embedded finance strategies also increase business touchpoints for consumers.

Infrastructure to Support Innovation

If your business relies on internal computer systems in a significant way, you may consider adapting your infrastructure to fully leverage advantages of the aforementioned trends. Cloud computation is one such way businesses are retaining and improving their competitive edge, especially in terms of scalability and consumer trend analysis. The cloud offers a myriad of advantages over the traditional in-house server approach and should especially resonate with companies who don’t have an IT focus. On a base level, this technology allows a cost-effective opportunity for your business to double down on what you do best while outsourcing non-core aspects and capitalizing on savings, improved security, and flexibility.

Financial Inclusion

Even in 2021, there exists a significant portion of the world population who remains unbanked. As the evolution of technology continues to chip away at this issue through digital banking strategies like smartphones, digital money transfers, and cryptocurrency, it’s important to remember the digital economy still has an immense amount of expansion yet to occur. These trends, in addition to improving pre-existing markets, are achieving newfound financial inclusion that can stand to benefit your business. Simply put, the more people included within the global banking system, the more reach your business could have within untapped and underdeveloped markets.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed a profound amount of pressure on the commerce to space to innovate and through the acceleration of contactless, digital, and globalized solutions – the space has been hyper developed compared to trends in past years. From adapting to contemporary banking and server technology, to multiplying customer touchpoints by expanding business verticals, these five trends are merely the beginning of an increasingly digitally ruled commerce landscape in which the most prepared will reap the greatest reward.