Bi-weekly roundup 2/10: top payments industry news and trends

The payment news we cover this week discusses the importance of digital and real-time payments for businesses, Mastercard’s latest foray into cryptocurrencies, and better payment experiences in ecommerce and retail.

COVID has changed business payments forever

PaymentsJournal reports that digital payments provide a critical role in helping small businesses survive the pandemic and plan for future growth. When employees had to transition into remote working, digital payments allowed businesses to operate safely and efficiently, reducing interruptions.

Additional benefits that integrated digital payments provide small businesses include better, more accurate, and lower risk processes all in one place. They also help companies to save money on paper and reduce the number of personnel needed for the reconciliation process.

The article brought up an interesting point: “Businesses are no longer centering their payments strategy around relationships to traditional banks — it’s now software decisions that are driving payment strategy.” Independent software vendors without a payment integration should consider the benefits and commerce enablement opportunities an integration can provide.

Mastercard partners with Coinbase for NFT payments

CNBC announced that Coinbase customers will be able to use Mastercard credit and debit cards to buy NFTs in Coinbase’s upcoming marketplace.

According to Coinbase, the purpose of the partnership is “to reduce friction in the NFT buying process.” To buy an NFT, customers need to open up a crypto wallet, purchase digital currencies, then spend those on the NFT. The Mastercard partnership gives customers more options in how they want to pay for NFTs.

Our 2022 payments predictions predicted that more companies within the payments ecosystem will get involved with the cryptocurrency market, and this announcement supports part of our prediction!

Fintech innovation streamlines the ecommerce checkout experience

Did you know 70% of online shopping carts get abandoned during checkout? PaymentsDive explored how fintech startups are working towards making ecommerce checkouts quicker and more convenient for customers — specifically, addressing the need to enter a credit card number when checking out.

Fast and Bolt are two prominent startups in this space. Their software tackles the difficulties with authentication by storing credit card credentials after the first purchase on an ecommerce site. When a customer comes back for another purchase, they don’t need to enter in their credit card details. Instead, they will get a one-click experience, similar to an Amazon checkout.

Experts expect ecommerce sales to continue to grow through the 2020s, so it’s exciting to see companies in the payments ecosystem working to make ecommerce checkouts faster, safer, and secure.

Amazon opening suburban stores with grab-and-go tech

According to PaymentsDive, Amazon plans on expanding its Amazon Go concept stores by opening more locations in the suburbs.

The suburban stores will be more spacious than the current stores located in urban cities like Chicago, New York, and Seattle. Customers will be able to get food and drinks without having to transact with a cashier before leaving, all thanks to Amazon’s Just Walk Out frictionless checkout technology.

The Go expansion supports the trend of invisible payments, where transacting happens automatically without customers needing to provide additional payment credentials or take further actions to make a payment. It will be interesting to see if competitors will invest more in their checkouts to offer a similar experience.

Businesses want their banks to have real-time payments capability

Citizens Financial Group’s annual payments and treasury survey revealed that eighty-five percent of business leaders say the most important factor when choosing a banking partner is whether the financial institution offers real-time payments (RTP) capabilities.

The ability to offer RTP topped the list of requirements for the first time and was considered more important than providing the lowest-cost financing. The benefits of RTP are huge for businesses, as it can improve their day-to-day operations and cash flow.

This statistic suggests that more businesses are serious about undergoing a digital transformation, with digital B2B payments becoming a requirement rather than a “nice to have” option.

Conclusion

We hope you find this roundup helpful in staying ahead of the latest payment trends! Keep informed on the payment industry by subscribing to our email newsletter or following us on social media.

Originally published at https://www.globalpaymentsintegrated.com.