If a recent survey from our partner Worldpay holds true to form, European merchants are going to have to upgrade their payment technology to accept a number of different payment methods in the coming years.
European consumers are going to be paying for their goods and services in several ways, says the survey: mobile phones, contactless, mobile wallets, biometrics, virtual currency and virtual reality.
What the Worldpay Survey Revealed About Payment Technology
When Instabill attended the Money 20/20 Tradeshow and Convention in October, there was a very telling quote by Gary Lyons, the CIO at MasterCard, in the seminar titled, Major Payments Networks Innovation Roundtable: More is going to happen in the next five years than the last 50.
This is truly the Payments Revolution.
Worldpay recently conducted a survey of 4,000 European consumers, soliciting their opinions and shopping habits, and the results revealed plenty.
- Mobile Payments Will Take Over
The Worldpay study found 52 percent of European consumers surveyed said they expect to be paying for goods and services with their smartphones in 2021, using schemes such as ApplePay, Android and Samsung Pay.
- Good News for Mobile Wallets
A little more than half of the 4,000 consumers indicated they expect to be paying with e-wallets such as PayPal and Alipay.
- Will Consumers Embrace Biometrics?
According to the survey, 37 percent of European consumers expect to use biometrics – fingerprint and retina scans as well as voice matching – to make payments.
- Digital Currency Hanging Around (Barely)
Despite Bitcoin’s recent resurgence – it is up to $949 – only 17 percent indicated they expected to be using alternative currency for payments.
- Cash – Not Going Away Anytime Soon
Cash is still the preferred method in Germany, where 97 percent of consumers use cash for in-store payments. For the foreseeable future, cash has a significant place in payments.
The Surprises
Here’s a new one for the payments: Virtual reality, or VRPay. Twenty percent of surveyed consumers expect to don those cool virtual reality goggles and shop in virtual shopping malls. Additionally, the smartwatch, like the Apple watch hasn’t quite caught on with EU consumers, with less than 20 percent expecting to use such for payments.
Instabill’s Banking Partners: Innovative and Consistent
Instabill has banking partners, both domestic and international, that are forward-thinking and offer cutting edge payment schemes. Speak one-on-one with a merchant account manager at 1-800-318-2713 to find which bank is best for your business.
