Payment Trends We Should Look for in 2019, and Those We Shouldn’t

Have you figured out what payment method that you will stick to this year? Not only one but more than two? This question has always had a certain answer. But, how about this year?

Unlike the previous years, many of us were certain that we would not use e-wallets due to card adoption that was still low. Until mid 2018, many of us broke the “vow”.

None of us wanted to miss all those cashback and discounts especially when they were being talked anywhere, online and offline.

We just love deals, aren’t we? But, how much further will this be taken in 2019? Will there be any more interesting methods that will be introduced, improved and perhaps, disappeared?

Here are some of the payment trends predicted by industry researchers for this year!

Payment trends in 2019

1. E-wallet

Starting off with e-wallet. World Payments Report in 2018 reported that global e-wallet transaction volumes alone comprising almost 8.6% of all non-cash transactions. It made the potential of e-wallet market to be seen more acceptable globally with even more e-wallet players entering.

In Malaysia, interesting cashback, discounts and sign-up offers continuously grabbed the attention and resulted to hundred thousands of downloads in a day. Even so, most users would most likely observe other users before they are confident to use it due to the risk of system failure.

While some customers are worried that those e-wallets are shown at the counter only for display, it is the responsibility of merchants and providers to quickly improve the situation so that the customers will not feeling betrayed over the e-wallets acceptance.

2. Real-time

Real-time payments are important, online and offline. These days, customers are showing their interest to make more saving. Hence, they often feel the need to track their account real-time. Real-time payments will not only work on retail platforms, but it will also improve P2P transactions tremendously.

3. Cash

We have not yet arrived at the phase where cashiers would ask us to choose between credit card or e-wallet to pay. Till then, we can see cash is still the first, and definitely a safe choice for many, not only in an offline setting.

Last year, on 11.11 alone, Razer Cash at 7-Eleven had recorded over RM15mil processing in a day while the main online system was facing overloaded volume. The situation open many eyes to get ready with at least a cash channel for their online shop.

4. Payment automation

Customers today want everything to be fast. However, there are some customers who still stand to their belief that keeping their card info on the phone is unsafe. Many of them misunderstood the function of tokenization and what it does to their cards.

Tokenization makes checkout even more fun and quick, as we do not have to wait for other parties to process the payment. Indeed, it is a useful mechanism used in e-wallets today for those prefer to link their card instead of reloading their money.

When payments are made fully instant, there is also a low risk to late payments on service subscriptions and more, such as Recurring Payment and DirectDebit.

Trends that we should leave behind

1. Display many payment methods, with unready system

As e-wallets are getting so much attentions today, merchants should not casually say, “the system is not ready” or "the system is down" and get away with the display, instead, get yourself another flexible POS system to capture the payment.

As an example, Razer VT. Not only it is economic, but it needs nothing else other than your smartphone and internet connection. It also supports more than three e-wallets today (Razer Pay, Alipay and WeChat Pay), and many more to come.

This is one of the most important ways that we can encourage e-wallet ecosystem to grow.

2. Leave out the main payment method

Regardless of how bad we want to introduce newer payment options, we should never get rid of the main payment method. Payment methods are usually referred to these main three: cash, credit/debit card and online banking.

No matter online or offline, these three have their own benefits to different categories of customers and natures of business.

We should put off the mindset about how this usage will not worth the cost. Today, you have a lot of selections that are compatible to your budget and your customers’ needs, so you only need to get your work done.

3. Provide unsuitable payment feature

Payment features today are meant to make life easier. Sometimes, customers could tell if you are not taking a good care of your business from how you cannot provide them good payment feature. A simple example on this is when you build a mobile app for your business but the payment page turns out unfriendly to mobile users.

This kind of problem could really be a major turn-off for customers. Sometimes, it only needs a little effort to make a difference to your customers' journey.

Do you have any other predictions that you would like to share with us? Do let us know! If you have any inquiries on how these trends can be helpful to upscale your sale and presence, please do not hesitate to ask us.