Over the past 5-10 years the smartphone has assumed an increasingly central role in our daily lives. One by one, the items we used to carry in our pocket or bag when heading out – camera, laptop, MP3 player – have been replaced by an increasingly powerful “Swiss Army” device capable of taking photos, sending emails, browsing the web, playing music, taking notes and much more. We know that cards and wallets are next on the hit list for smartphones – a future brought ever closer by recent announcements from Apple and Android.
But for those merchants and PSPs still a little sceptical, two new pieces of research might help to persuade you.
Compelling stats
Deloitte is claiming smartphone and smart watch payments will take-off much faster in the UK than they have so far in the US. This is thanks to our mature payments market where familiarity with Chip and PIN contactless payments, and the large volume of NFC-enabled phones already in circulation generate real consumer awareness as to their payment options. Deloitte also referenced the “strong acceptance” of using fingerprint readers to authorise transactions – as per Apple Pay’s Touch ID – and a “significant installed base” of retail outlets which can accept mobile payments.
Already the likes of Transport for London, the Post Office, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Waitrose and Lidl have signed up to Apple Pay, for example.
But it’s not just Deloitte beating the drum for mobile payments. Research from Visa Europe last month predicted that UK shoppers will spend over £1.2bn a week via their mobiles by 2020. Some 60% of those surveyed by the card giant said they’d use their mobile at least once a week by then, with a quarter claiming they’d spend more than £50.
Building a mobile future
We couldn’t agree more. This is why we’ve been building smartphone payment capabilities into our flagship products, so that retail customers can take mobile payments quickly and easily – whether at the till, roaming the store, or out and about at events. We’ve also teamed up to provide the technology to allow our partners, such as iZettle, to accept fast and secure mobile payments.
No matter what size your business, you stand to benefit from offering customers extra choice when it comes to payments. Here are just a few reasons why the UK really is heading for a mobile payments revolution.
Shorter queues, more customers: NFC payments are processed faster than traditional payment methods such as chip & PIN, so there’s less chance of queue drop-outs and a boost in takings
Easy to use: both for you and the customer. Less friction on payment tends to improve the whole shopping experience, meaning happier customers
More secure: Highest levels of security are provided through the use of P2PE certified devices which are further strengthened with NFC payment solutions such as Apple Pay which now utilise additional tokenisation processes so at no time are card details stored on the merchant’s servers. This reduces risk in the event of a data breach
Greater choice: offering your customers more ways to pay will show you care about the shopping experience, and keep them coming back.
Lower costs: aside from the one-off terminal charge, NFC based mobile payments can cost less than chip and pin transactions
Going green: No paper receipts means a more environmentally sound way of doing business and will lower your overheads. It might even encourage environmentally conscious shoppers to choose your business over a rival’s.
Mobile payments technology is fast rendering the wallet in your pocket a thing of the past. To find out more about how Miura can help you tap this payments revolution before the competition, get in touch here.
