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You might want some time to ponder but believe me, everything’s changed. The degree and pace of this change are unprecedented. Being social is a distant memory now. Let’s talk about it. We all have, with our convenience adjusted to this pandemic. One aspect is, Consumer Behavior.
Changing directions
If you think about digital payments and the digital ecosystem overall, what is worth noticing is, everything’s digital now essentially everything tends to be contactless. Let’s have context.
The cherry on the top
Ironically, the virus is a cherry on the top, if we talk about digital payments. It was already around for a while but the virus has accentuated it. The biggest byproduct of this virus, social distancing is responsible for this saga.
Stay away!
Attitude is the root cause of change; this very attitude of ‘staying away’ made this happen. We fear to go to a crowded place, getting in a queue, touching surfaces, etc.
Bubye cash
We are on our way to bid cash a farewell, today payment for things has moved from shelling cash or swiping cards to mere tapping on our devices or filling details. It hardly takes 3 seconds to tap, scan and pay! We fear touching notes and coins which change hands practically every second, that’s obvious!
Hassle-free
I believe anything which is digitalized, becomes super easy and accessible. You might not want to argue about it. It has made all our lives a better place. Let’s dig deeper.
Hey, there’s an issue!
As you know there’s nothing like a picture-perfect. It’s my onus to tell you the biggest shortcoming of this digital revolution, Security and Data Privacy concerns, right?
You need to instil trust. Well, that’s the way to do business! But when you’re digital, you need to put something ‘extra’. Identifying pain points and striking a balance between convenience and privacy.
Win-win
It’s pretty much clear that this is a consumer-led move, what’s in it for the merchants? If merchants use smartphones as payment acceptance device, isn’t it cost-effective, considering the traditional Point of Sale machines?
Future
There’s a race going on between nations to be ‘the future’, using technology to be invincible. Well, if I talk about this phenomenon, Sweden is leading the race and would become cash-free by 2023.
Where’s India?
India is the fastest-growing market led by smartphone penetration and affordable 4G connection. The digital payments market in India is expected to reach $1 Trillion by 2023.
Still, in India this is more of an urban thing, which implies there’s a long way to go, spreading awareness regarding the concept in Tier III cities and villages to become truly cash-free!
Components
When you’re making a payment but not through cash that’s a digital payment where you might be using:
1. Mobile Wallet
A virtual wallet which stores payment information from a credit or debit card on a mobile device is a mobile wallet. There are several mobile wallet apps that are a convenient way for you to make payments or purchases at the merchants or retailers listed with the mobile wallet service provider.
2. Debit or Credit Card
A Debit Card enables a cardholder to make payments by directly deducting money from your checking or bank account.
A Credit Card is issued by a financial institution, generally a bank, and it allows a cardholder to borrow funds from that bank or institution. According to the terms of the institution, these cardholders agree to return the money along with the interest.
3. Online Banking
Online Banking which is also known as Internet Banking or Web Banking- offers customers services through a local branch that allows them to make transactions, deposits, transfers and online bill payments.
All in all, these are ways to pay digitally. I would like to reiterate the essence of technology. It’s magic! You put tech in anything; it shows results, therefore there’s FinTech (Financial Technology) Google and Flipkart are leading the FinTech space in India.
Conclusion
Digitalization is the future; it is gaining traction at an unprecedented pace, there are some lagging behind due to either lack of it or safety reasons but ultimately we all need to board this bus. There are initiatives from the Govt, which shows it is very clear on this front and would work to make India cash-free. In the end, it is you and me availing the benefits!
Written by – Manvinder Arora
Edited by – Ivanova
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