Online shopping is booming day by day. It has been the most adopted idea to leverage a business in the era of gen z. Digital evolution is taking place worldwide at a higher pace. But there are major concerns that are considered for using online shopping apps and websites. One of the major ones is payment methods. While shopping online, customers might be sure about buying from which online store and what to buy, but they always doubt the virtual paying methods. It could be the resulting thought of frauds, exploitation of personal data, or maybe unexplored reasons that come out of nowhere. It often happens in online payment methods where the money transfers are carried, but money transferred was missed somewhere. It could be the result of weak backend development or an unexpected error occurs.
Increased insecurities of the buyers have led the sales departments to think about the solutions that grab customers' trust and benefit them. A major concern was shown by eCommerce providing varied options for paying. The global eCommerce market has various paying methods available in the market. In 2020, the top online paying method was a mobile wallet, with a popularity of about 44.5%. The second and third popular methods are debit cards.
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Then, lots of payment methods were developed that guaranteed secure and successful payment transfer used while online. As the future is digital, we acquire digitalization in almost all lifestyles; paying is also holding to that concept. Let us elaborate on the previous statements with an instance. If a business, considering a grocery business, is transforming its business to virtual platforms using a grocery delivery app solution, it would allow its customer's seamless experience to shop from online stores. Also, the store has to provide various paying methods integrated into the solution to get their preferred ones. Different users prefer different payment methods to ensure a successful order; the store will integrate all possible ways into the system that are preferred by the buyer. In this article, we will discuss payment methods expected to be mainly used to give the best results in the future for online shopping.
Top Payment Methods That Provides the Best Results
Contactless Pay
In the coming time, contactless payments are expected to be widespread in 2021. In a contactless payment method, buyers would pay using just a simple wave in front of the reader. It is an instant paying method, ensuring convenience more than swiping a money card.
The method has a safer process than PIN methods as it transfers all encrypted data to the salesperson's device instantaneously. To use these methods, customers have to install the app, add the bank card details and other identity details.
While paying, they just have to wave their mobile phone across the required reader. RFID (radio frequency identification) and NFC (Near to Frequency payment) technology are used on contactless paying. This payment method is already used at various places in many countries. According to Statista, the number of mobile contactless payment users in the first half of 2018 was around 440 million, estimated to grow by the end of 2020 and became 760 million users.
Mobile Wallet
In digital wallet payment methods, users can directly pay from the app they want to pay. The store saves users' payment details, including passwords, to conduct transactions on various sites and different applications. It is a faster method for users to just make the transactions anytime they want. In March 2021, a study by Juniper Research, the number of digital wallet users in 2019 was 2.6 billion, which will exceed in 2025 by 4.4 billion users worldwide.
The method is used widely by several organizations using the best possible framework for development. The reason behind this is because companies can easily get the data about the usage of the products from the wallet. Further, to make successful payment methods, many hands worldwide render a quick and safe transaction like any company similar to Google making wallets. These wallets take the details of the cards which some other company develops. Even the traders are using these apps for payments. All these together make a successful payment method.
Crypto
Cryptocurrency, as a method of payment, is an entirely different way of payment. Experts estimate that this form can be proved as the catalyst for the entire era of digital payments. The method uses the blockchain, a decentralized technology spread across numerous computers that manage and record transactions. The transactions are paid via computers and to the computers that host the entire network. The network owners make money by allowing users to use the system to make a transaction process. It is counted as the future of money replacing all the conventional currencies.
Cryptocurrency is used to exchange goods or services in the future. Ecommerce persons are hiring crypto as a payment method. It adds to preferred methods for payments to users. Moreover, crypto is the future of payments, so it is also a step to survive with the trends.
Voice Commerce
Digital transformations lead to some excellent technology that provides more innovative, convenient, and feasible choices to its users. One of the examples is voice commerce methods used for paying for online shopping. Amazon has developed a device called Alexa, which will recognize users' voices to perform tasks, even for payments. Throughout the conversation, it recognizes the user and conducts a payment without any payment or PIN code. It will offer a full voice experience, suitable for the environment. The speakers are primitive and are just confined to phone devices.
Voice assistants are having a wide range of uses, including payment methods. Around 28% of people use voice assistants for payments as of November 2017, according to the analysis conducted by Statista. Still, it is not a considerable number because of the insecurities users get while using the device for payment. The technology experts are yet expecting a prominent rise in the use of this device over a wide range with improved tech and security protocols.
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Online Bank Transfer
It is not a popular payment method but essentially crucial for many eCommerce firms. It is one of the trusted methods, which is considered a request. When the rest of the payment methods fail somehow, the successful transaction can be led by this method. For customers, it is the simplest and safest way to pay for any online shopping. The method doesn't require any card details; it needs only the bank details. The payments from the buyer's bank are pushed to the seller's bank account. Moreover, the method has multiple fund transfer options, including RTGS (Real-time Gross Settlement), IMPS(Immediate Payment Service), UPI-based options, NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer), and many more.
The online bank transfer method was and will be a preferred method due to its trusted process, fully electronic, customer-friendly, and fully secured. There won't be any reversal of payment in online banking. In case of any abnormalities, customers have to ask the store for a refund. Also, the transfer of money takes 3-5 business days. However, the method is still used for the purpose due to the trusted process.
These methods are of Great Importance in the Future.
Payment method for the future has a very long list. Several methods are widespread and growing in a region, while in other regions, other methods are booming. The online shopping methods propose a wide range of payment methods, ensuring that their customers do not move out with the disappointment of not getting their preferred method. Future payment methods are all mainly concentrating on digital currency. Those mentioned above are the most popular methods that are expected in the future. Digital wallets, cryptocurrency, contactless payments, online transfer, and voice assistants are all users worldwide and will be the most used methods to buy any goods and services.
