Mobile payments: the future of ecommerce?
Mobile payments are here. I’m not talking about people shopping on their mobile phones, browsing online and ordering goods. I’m talking about paying in-store, with their mobiles.
The launch of Google Wallet in 2011 was followed by a number of different companies striving to create apps which allow people to simply swipe their phones and walk out the door bags in hand. There’s Square in the States and Droplet (who we interviewed recently) in the UK just to name a few.
“This is an area with a huge amount of activity from all of the big players like Google, Amex and PayPal,” says Roelant Prins, CCO at payment company Adyen.
“They are all working on the Holy Grail of mobile “wallets”.
According to Prins however full scale adoption might not be as close as many are making out: “The roll-out is technically really close but the technology is way head of people and they will continue to be sceptical around security.”
But what kind of effect could this have on ecommerce? After all you can’t use these payment methods online. Some reports have said that if this kind of new payment technology actually takes hold, it could major implications for ecommerce retailers.
The changes will come from new customer payment behaviour. When customers become used to simply swiping their phones in-store, they will want to see the same kind of efficiency online, not have to take their cards out of their wallets and enter a set of numbers.
“The focus for the consumer will be on ease of use and one click payments,” says Prins.
It may also be the case that online retailers have to add extra payment options in their check-out. This is certainly going to be the case if Droplet takes off as we found out when we spoke to co-founder Stef:
“Traditional eCommerce sites offer PayPal or credit/debit card options. Offering an alternative like Droplet is great because its free, quicker, easier and more secure. There’s no need to get your credit cards out and use the numbers.”
Mobile payments may also erode one of the great advantages that shopping online has over shopping in-store. The ability to search for the best deals and get the best prices.
Google Wallet and other such applications will eventually be linked with offers allowing brick-and-mortar stores to offer online discounts when people are in their stores. They will no longer need to go home and sit at their computers or laptops to get the best offers.
Whether mobile payments are on the cusp of taking off or a few years away from mass market appeal, one this is for certain – they will further change the way consumers purchase goods and ecommerce retailers must keep up with this evolution.
Watch this space.
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