With customers now expecting businesses to be able to accept multiple payment types, there is currently a large drive for fast, convenient and often contactless payment options.
It is essential for businesses of all sizes to consider accepting card payments in order to stay competitive. Thankfully, there are now more options than ever that allow even small businesses to accept card payments relatively easily and with little financial investment.
Card payments now make up 35% of all UK transactions
According to the UK Card Association, 35% of all UK transactions in 2016 were made using card. This figure is on the rise as the use of cash continues to plummet and more convenient payment options continue to gain traction with consumers.
There were 39.2 million card payments made each day in the UK in 2016, and consumers are increasingly leaning towards the faster, easier payment methods such as contactless. An indication of this is the huge 97% increase that was seen in the use of contactless payments in 2017. This pushed the number of contactless payments made up to over 5.6 billion.
We have also seen an introduction in the use of wearable and mobile payments which now allow users to choose a payment accessory that suits their lifestyle and even their fashion and style.
Smart watches such as the Apple Watch can now be used to make payments, although they currently lack the biometric security of other mobile payment techniques they bring a new level of convenience – a wearable payment option. It is an innovative design which we are sure will be improved upon and refined as time goes on.
Looking at the recent trends, it comes as no surprise that over 50% of shoppers believe their wallets could be replaced by their phones in the next five years. Phones and apps are believed to be the future of payment, allowing payment without the use of a physical payment card and providing protection to users via biometric security such as fingerprint scanning.
In support of this, passwords are one of the main sources of frustration for online shoppers and 61% of consumers believe biometrics are quicker and easier to use than passwords.
Another benefit to using mobile technologies such as Apple Pay and Android Pay is that they can be used in-store, online and in-app too with very little effort.
Source: barmagazine.co.uk
