The Future of Payments

The Future of Payments: How eWallets and Digital Payments are Changing the Landscape…
In Asian markets, the future of payments is already here. In China in 2018, 70% of the population were regularly using QR codes, scanned with their smartphone devices, to complete payments. By comparison, the figure in Thailand from the same year was only 23%, but 74% of the population were described as “aware of QR-based payment services”, demonstrating how the technology is growing in the region.
It’s also worth noting that numbers of users utilising mobile payment apps exceeded 801 million in China in June of 2020, up from 765 million in March. This is the future of payments — quick, secure, convenient, and handled via mobile.
Here in Australia, we are a little behind this pace. As of 2020, there are around 3.3 million mobile payment users in Australia, around 13% of the total population, compared to over 57% of the population in China. However, this figure becomes a lot more exciting when we view it in a wider context. This 3.3 million represents an astonishing 45.6% growth, year-on-year. It is expected that there will be 5.6 million users in Australia by 2024, or around 20.7% of the projected population at that point. Still a little behind, but making strong progress.

A Forward-Focused Approach to Payments

Why is there so much fuss around mobile payments and digital wallets? Why do these pieces of technology represent the future?
Well, there are a number of different benefits that make digital payment platforms and software far more attractive propositions than the old way of doing things.

Access From Anywhere and Everywhere

Users can access mobile payment apps from anywhere, on any device. This allows users to complete transactions using smartphones, even if they do not have their cash or cards on them. Biometric security features and other measures implemented by smartphone manufacturers and app developers make this a more secure way of processing payment.

A Better Experience for the User

Payment apps can integrate with other media, such as business websites and other applications, to provide a more unified experience for users. This is great news for both merchants and customers alike, as merchants find themselves able to influence the customer journey and provide offers and other incentives directly to the user. Meanwhile, the customer is able to gain access to products and services they might not previously have been exposed to.

A Far More Efficient and Transparent Approach to Transactions

Payments become streamlined and transactions become easy. With just a simple action, payments are completed at the POS, and bills are settled. A payment app also retains a record of transactions made, making it much easier for customers to manage their incomings and outgoings. This type of capability is not possible with cash and is tricky and cumbersome with traditional forms of banking.

More Sustainable Social Implications

Payment apps also make it easier for customers to donate to great causes — often causes that are championed by businesses themselves. Often, one of the key barriers to charity and to giving is inconvenience — people want to be able to donate money, but they either cannot immediately find where or how to do so, or life gets in the way. By streamlining the whole process and by putting charitable donations at the fingertips of users, digital payment apps represent a wide range of positive implications for the society of tomorrow.

Explore the EonX Wallet

The team at EonX have been developing their own digital wallet functionality, updating the conventional wallets of old into versatile, practical, highly convenient digital wallets of the future. To find out more about the EonX eWallet, reach out to our team today!