5 trends transforming the payments and shopping landscape

By Pavithra R

The constraints of the past year have challenged us in many ways, but has also created opportunities for change, upending the way we shop and chipping away at calcified attitudes toward how, when and where we make payments.

The New Payments Index, conducted by The Harris Poll and Mastercard Global Foresights, Insights and Analytics reveals that in the past year, 63% of respondents have tried a new method to pay that they would not have tried otherwise, including contactless, QR codes and biometric checkout, among others. They’ve also embraced new ways to shop, from “click and collect” pickup at stores to voice commerce. Mastercard has outlined 5 key insights that show how the landscape of payments and shopping is changing. The insights pointed out are:

1, Time and touch are the main motivators

Saving time is the top reason among all age groups for trying a new method to pay (53%), followed by a desire to avoid cash (47%). However, half of the respondents are of the opinion that they won’t try new payments because of security concerns, with 45% citing concern about the protection of their personal information as a barrier.

2, Trust in emerging payments is catching up

Cash (68%) and chip cards (68%) are considered the most secure forms of payment among those in the survey, but digital money transfer services (64%)contactless cards (62%) and mobile wallets (59%) are close behind. Respondents in developing markets many of which leapfrogged over earlier payment innovations straight to mobile money are more likely than those in developed markets to consider a majority of digital payments secure.

3, Age is not a constraint when it comes to new forms of payment

Millennials are a very experimental age group, more willing than even Gen Z to try newer ways to pay, such as payment-enabled devices like smartwatches, mobile payments using SMS, and crypto. But even baby boomers have dabbled in emerging payments, with 34% using a digital money transfer service in the past year.

4, Crypto is coming up

Millennials are particularly intrigued by cryptocurrency as compared with other age groups. Six in 10 people overall say they are more open to using crypto than they were a year ago (58%), compared with seven in 10 millennials (67%).

5, Cash only? Catch you later

Many say a lack of payment options is a deal-breaker for them when shopping: Six in 10 respondents say they avoid merchants that don’t accept digital payments of any kind (59%).

Also, read Wealth Management and Private Banking Systems Report 2020