How Businesses Respond to Shifting Customer Expectations

We live in an age of rapid technological progress and drastic changes in sales and consumer behavior. To remain competitive and thrive in such a fluctuating environment, businesses have to be flexible and agile.

Let's take a closer look at the state-of-the-art payment solutions companies need to implement to match changing customer expectations.

What Is the Payments Industry Landscape Like Today?

In March 2020, card-not-present transactions prevailed over the card-present ones for the first time in history, and the situation has still not reverted until this day.

This is especially true when it comes to payment methods, as after over two years of working and shopping mainly online, many users are willing to continue doing so moving forward. Here are some impressive figures demonstrating the drastic shift toward online presence:

• More than 50% of consumers consider themselves more digital than ever
• 39% of users are shopping from a smartphone on a daily or weekly basis
• 23% of shoppers make purchases online at least daily

Thus, it's critical that, even in a post-pandemic situation, merchants are ready to offer a digital-first shopping experience. What's more, the payment process should be frictionless, convenient, personalized, and secure.

What Payment Experiences Do Millenials and Zoomers Expect?

While meeting the expectations of boomers and Gen X is important, it's also crucial for businesses to focus on winning the loyalty of Millenials and Zoomers for long-term success.

The key payment expectations of Gen Y and Gen X are as follows:

• Contactless payments. 56% of millennials globally admit they would try to avoid shopping at stores that don't accept contactless payment methods.
• BNPL. Paying for the purchases over time rather than letting go of the full sum upfront is a popular option among younger generations. In fact, 75% of BNPL users in the US belong to Gen Z.
• Live commerce. Livestream selling enables direct and instant deals via video. This type of commerce is gaining popularity among Gen Y and Gen Z, with some companies reporting a 20% influx of younger audiences.

It's no surprise that younger people hop on trends faster than the older generations. Thus, to meet the expectations of Gen Y and Gen Z, it's important to keep a finger on the pulse of emerging payment methods and integrate them into the business operations in a timely manner.

Payment Solutions for Merchants to Keep Up With in 2022

The payment trends among younger generations seem to be clear. But what other methods should a modern business's payment page contain? Here are the main solutions to consider:

Digital Wallets

Digital wallets are virtual equivalents of traditional wallets. They store users' credit and debit cards, bank account data, loyalty cards, and beyond. Due to their convenience, they are steadily gaining popularity among shoppers and are estimated to have approximately 4.4 billion global users by 2023.

Merchants can accept digital wallets both in online and brick-and-mortar stores using point-of-sale solutions like Payneteasy. It's estimated that by 2023, 1.6 billion shoppers worldwide will pay for purchases at POS terminals, accounting for 30% of overall POS payments.

QR-Code Payments

The popularity of QR codes as a payment method is continuously growing, as they have proven themselves to be both safe and easy to use. Notably, the adoption rates of this payment type vary significantly depending on the country. For instance, its usage rate in China has reached 70% as opposed to the figures in Japan, showing only 8% of active users.

Yet, the expansion of QR code payments seems to be inevitable, with experts forecasting the number of users to reach 2.2 billion already by 2025.

Pay By Link + E-Invoicing

Pay by link and digital invoicing are similar payment methods typically used in different contexts. Merchants typically generate custom links to send out directly to their customers for them to complete payments. Digital invoicing, on the other hand, is more often used in B2B rather than B2C interactions.

Nevertheless, both of these payment options are on the rise. Digital invoicing is expected to increase at a CAGR of 20.4% from 2019 to 2027. As for pay by link provider transactions, one provider reports 6x growth in transactions from 2020 to 2021.

Online Loyalty Schemes

Loyalty schemes are extremely effective in creating lasting relationships with consumers and encouraging purchases. It's a prominent scheme in in-store retail sales, with stores like Boots and Paperchase offering shoppers cards that enable them to earn bonus points, discounts, and gifts.

However, due to factors like stricter data protection laws and the decline of offline shopping in the past few years, the popularity of traditional schemes has dropped. This situation makes businesses turn to digital solutions like Marpay and Pointspay.

Such apps facilitating loyalty schemes are sure to be on the rise in 2022 and beyond.

Super Apps

Super apps combine a variety of services on one platform, relieving the need for a person to download and install multiple applications.

Social networks such as Instagram and Facebook are predicted to become super apps in the foreseeable future. Already now, it's possible to chat and shop for products without leaving the apps, and more services are likely to be added.

Merging multiple services into one app is expected to be the future of financial solutions.

Creating an End-to-End Digital-First Customer Journey

If you are still not using the payment methods mentioned above, it's time to review your eCommerce strategy to meet the expectations and needs of the majority of modern consumers. After all, staying on-trend and facilitating as many transactions as possible is the only way to remain competitive in the ever-changing payments ecosystem.