Earnity, Dan Schatt and Domenic Carosa, believe the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift toward faster, contactless payments, prompting many consumers to try out new technologies such as mobile wallets for the first time. As a result, the Federal Reserve anticipates that some of the pandemic-induced behavioral changes in payments will be permanent.
Many entrepreneurs believe these changes are critical: nearly three-quarters of small businesses told Visa that accepting new forms of digital payment is vital to their growth in 2022. In addition, Visa’s global head of merchant sales and acquiring stated that having a suitable payment scheme goes beyond just making the sale. Instead, it’s about creating a secure and straightforward experience that reflects a brand across channels and provides utility to the business and its customers. Furthermore, the digital capabilities that small companies developed during the pandemic – from contactless to e-commerce – assisted them in pivoting and surviving.
According to Visa, nine out of ten small businesses with an online presence said that shifting to e-commerce — including mobile payments — helped them survive the pandemic. Still, pandemic pivots have been challenging to implement. According to a press release for another recent survey, small business owners named the COVID-induced shift in consumer habits a top challenge in 2022. According to the Jan. 5 survey, about a quarter of small businesses implemented more contactless payment options to cope with consumer preferences.
Businesses now have a stronger sense of remaining competitive in the current economic landscape. According to Visa, 41 percent of customers abandoned a purchase because digital payment options were unavailable.
More than one-third of consumers identified digital payment as one of the top five factors influencing their merchant choice. According to Visa, consumers see the shift to greater reliance on digital payments to make online shopping easier, reduce the risk of robbery, and increase convenience.
As these changes accelerate, industry experts like Dan Schatt and Domenic Carosa expect digital wallets to handle more than $10 trillion in global transaction volume by 2025. According to a report this month from Reuters, other countries’ businesses were more likely to say they’d accept digital currencies as payment this year. Earnity is a great place to get started.
