Mobile Wallet Trends: Future of Payments

Mobile wallets were once a niche service for tech-savvy customers, but not anymore, digital wallets are looked upon as the future of payments.

As we continue to emerge from a cash society to the society that accepts digital methods of payment, smart merchants will keep on finding ways to accommodate their customer’s love of smartphones. The trend to mobile payments is driven by ease of usability and convenience, increased security to safeguard transactions, and the automation and streamlining of payment processes.

Over the last 5 years, the use of the mobile wallet has grown rapidly. According to a report, the value mobile wallet transaction reached $4,296 billion in the year 2018. And by 2022, this value is forecasted to reach a whopping $13,979 billion U.S.D. Banking News

Do you know what is even more surprising, it is that the innovations in mobile payment niche have just Started.  In the coming years, more and more advanced mobile wallet technologies will emerge and it might even eradicate the use of paper money altogether.

That means, we can expect to see more exciting developments in mobile wallets, which will ultimately make mobile payments more secure and convenient in the near future.

However, even after the explosion of support for mobile payments, there is still lots of room for improvement and innovation, particularly for more advanced mobile wallet technologies emerge. So what mobile wallet trends can we look forward to in the near future? So, here we have highlighted the top 5 Mobile Wallet trends that will play a key role in shaping the future of payments.

• Increase in the use of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is no more reserved for exclusive investors and tech-savvy brands. It has already been adopted by small-to-large businesses around the globe.

In fact, there are dozens of mobile applications that offer support for various cryptocurrencies. Also, as you might expect, the businesses that incorporate this technology are expected to thrive better than others over the long haul.

The reason behind this is that cryptocurrency eliminates the need for a third-party in the payment process. This, as a result, will lead to more secure transactions, since security has always been the main concern for people.

The businesses that incorporate as much technology as possible are the businesses that are going to thrive over the long haul. In a world where the consumer is looking for as many payment options as possible, having the ability to provide them is everything. Virtual currency is not a passing trend; it is going to become a key aspect of any forward-thinking business planning.

• Improved Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI), in the last 3 to 5 years, has improved rapidly and made its way to one of the top emerging technologies. As a result, AI can now manage routine customer interactions effectively.

One place where you might have probably encountered with AI technology is chatbots used by brands and ecommerce stores.

These AI-based chatbots basically help companies to address their customer’s problems. And when it comes to mobile payments, chatbots have been really useful by preparing and executing basic transactions automatically with customers’ approval.

Apart from this, AI is also capable of handling voice instructions, which ultimately makes routine tasks execute automatically such as ACH payment processing or number verification without having to speak to an agent ever.

Artificial intelligence assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa are already getting us used to employ voice commands to order and pay for merchandise. Depending on these assistants is a trend that will undoubtedly grow, forcing merchants to consider ways to accommodate AI shopping through their sites. AI will also be utilized more for cutting-edge fraud detection and defense against cyber-attacks.

• Biometrics

Though Biometrics technology has been around for over a decade, the technology recently became common in consumer products.

Thanks to Apple for introducing a fingerprint scanner on its iPhone 5s product, biometric security technology has become a mainstream feature in consumer products today.

Biometric security technology, as you already know, adds an extra layer of security in mobile wallets. Once the biometrics feature implemented correctly, it eliminates the need to remember passwords altogether.

The biometrics technology allows mobile payment processing with just a fingerprint scan, making the mobile payment more convenient and faster.

• Mobile Banking

Coca Cola introduced a few vending machines in Helsinki that allowed consumers to buy their drink through text messages, back in 1997. Although small, but this innovative use case is still regarded as the first example of a mobile wallet and introduced the idea of using mobile devices for transactions.  As time passed, mobile devices were used to purchase movie tickets, arrange travel, and even order pizza. By 2003, about 95 million mobile phone users had made a purchase using their mobile device.

The initial Mobile Wallet trend began in 2014 when Apple launched the Apple Pay wallet. Soon after its successful adoption, competitors immediately developed their own mobile wallets such as Google Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, and Microsoft Wallet.
While this mobile wallet trend will continue to grow in the coming years, but the traditional banking institutions are also building secure apps with the assistance of mobile app development companies to assist their customers.

Cashless transactions have been a major shift in the finance industry. And since then, financial institutions have already made the necessary changes by bringing digital wallet solutions of their own.

• Loyalty Programs

Everybody loves discounts and it’s what a wallet loyalty program is all about. It is a customer retention strategy where brands incentivize their customers for remaining loyal to their brand.

In fact, retailers around the world have vastly adopted this strategy by offering in-store mobile payment option through which customers earn points each time they make a purchase.

>And as we move forward, more and more retailers are expected to follow this suit. Otherwise, they’re destined to left out in the cold.