Accepting Mobile Payments

While mobile payments were on the rise for about a decade as our world became more digital, their popularity has skyrocketed over the last few years. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for contactless transactions transformed the way many consumers shop, and this trend certainly isn’t slowing down. eMarketer estimates that 48.2% of smartphone users will use their phones for point-of-sale mobile payments by 2025; when you consider that 85% of Americans own a smartphone (according to Pew Research Center), that’s a huge number of mobile transactions!

The Advantages of Accepting Mobile Payments

If your business isn’t already accepting mobile payments, there are several reasons to do so. Here are some advantages to consider:

Convenience

The majority of mobile-payment customers cite convenience as their primary reason for using mobile transactions (66% make payments using mobile wallets such as Apple Pay or Samsung Pay regularly because “it is more convenient than other modes [of payment],” according to Emizen Tech).

By accepting these payments, your business will make the checkout process easier for your customers, which can provide a more positive experience with your business and ultimately lead to more conversions.

Accepting mobile payments can have convenient benefits for your business, too. When you accept mobile payments, you can accept customer payments from anywhere, providing your business with the flexibility to set up shop at local events such as festivals or farmers markets!

Stay Competitive

During the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, contactless transactions helped many businesses not only remain afloat but stay in business; Caitlin Mullen, associate editor of Payments Dive, reported in January 2022 that 90% of small businesses cited e-commerce as the reason they survived the pandemic. Between March 2020 and March 2021, contactless payments such as tap-to-pay grew over 30%, according to Visa.

The pandemic made the use of mobile payments more widespread, and industry experts say mobile payments are here to stay. Accepting these payments at your business will help you stay competitive!

Streamline Business Processes

Mobile payments provide so many opportunities for your business to run more efficiently!

By accepting payment this way, you can:

• Easily manage your inventory electronically.
• Have instant digital records of your sales.
• Simplify the checkout process and allow it to happen from anywhere (see our earlier point about convenience!).
• Open your business up to new e-commerce opportunities.

Go Green

Mobile payments are more environmentally friendly! When customers pay via mobile device, they can then have their receipts sent to them electronically, whether via text or email, from your store. This electronic transaction eliminates the need for a paper receipt (and, eventually, paper waste).

Loyalty

Many mobile payment options make it easy to incorporate a loyalty program into your customers’ interactions. Each time a customer completes a purchase using mobile payment, they can earn points/stars/rewards or receive coupons for your business, encouraging them to become repeat customers. Mobile payments make it easy to reward customers for patronizing your business and inspire future purchases.

Often, consumers (primarily millennials) see rewards and discounts as an incentive to use mobile payment methods versus traditional methods!

Increase Revenue / Profit

Did you know that customers using mobile pay tend to spend more than those using traditional payment methods?

Paymentsdive.com states that, “when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, 41% of consumers have abandoned a purchase because digital payment options weren’t available.”

Consider a potential customer who realizes, while shopping, she forgot her credit card. Rather than needing to check her wallet or purse for another payment method or put the item back, she can simply use her phone to pay. This trend is increasingly common in younger consumers, Paymentsdive.com claims based on reports from Visa.

When your business accepts mobile payments, you are making the checkout process quicker and more convenient, streamlining your data collection for inventory, staying competitive, and encouraging your customers to return with mobile rewards. With these factors in mind, accepting mobile payments is a relatively inexpensive way to make a big change in your business and increase your revenue.

Other Considerations

While some businesses are shifting (or already have shifted) to only accepting electronic payments, you’ll need to consider what is best for your business. Although millennial and Gen-Z customers tend to prefer mobile transactions, customers in older demographics may rather traditional forms of payment.

Some customers are more hesitant to use mobile payment methods than others, often due to concerns that mobile payment could be unsafe compared to traditional methods (while research suggests the opposite is true, per Investopedia.com).

No matter which payment method(s) you choose for your business, make sure you communicate the payments you’ll accept to your potential customers.

Get Started!

Wondering where to start with incorporating mobile payments into your business plans? Check out our Should Your Business Accept Mobile Payments? blog to learn about different mobile payment options.

This blog was originally published on April 25, 2022. It was last updated on December 13, 2023.