Millions of people already manage their entire life through their smartphone , therefore , for mobile devices to become the primary way we pay for things seems like a natural evolution .

The change is already underway . Official data from UK Finance shows that in 2022 30 % of adults were registered with at least one mobile payment service , with that figure climbing to over half among the under-35s .

Next year we ’ ll see the technology be embraced beyond these primarily young early adopters . For consumers , the ease of paying for things by just tapping their phone onto a merchant ’ s phone makes the appeal of tap-to-pay obvious .

But we ’ ll also see a big shift among businesses , for whom tap-to-pay removes the need for cash , cards , card readers or tills , reducing their costs and streamlining the sales process .

It also removes barriers for businesses who have traditionally only taken cash , as now , with just a mobile phone , anyone can accept contactless payments , wherever they are , in a matter of seconds .

Innovations in digital payments we can expect to see in the next year

Loyalty and reward programmes have lagged behind payment technology for too long . While customers now have an array of easy , instant ways to pay for things in person , collecting rewards sometimes feels little more sophisticated than the old paper cards that you used to get stamped with each purchase .

In future , loyalty programmes will run on tech that streamlines business processes , eliminates customer friction and integrates rewards into every sale . Some payment terminals and card transactions already showcase this with automatic cashback and offers directly sent to users ’ accounts and this is where we can expect to see more innovation .

There ’ s also a shift towards rewarding businesses , and payment providers are increasingly issuing cards that enable businesses to spend their income immediately , while also offering them the opportunity to add rewards , cashback , and offers to these payments . In short , with a good payment provider a merchant can get savings when they earn money , and rewards when they spend it . For example , the Lopay Rewards Card allows merchants to access their money instantly for a low fee , then earn rewards when they use the card . 25 % of all their spend is put back into their account in the form of transactions with zero fees .

Does the ‘ perfect payment ’ exist ? Will innovation ever come to an end ?

The short and simple answer is no .

While we can certainly process payments faster and more efficiently , there will always be opportunities to add more value to products . Innovation that doesn ’ t enhance the user experience will quickly fade out , while anything that makes payments work better for everyone will continue to flourish . The shift from cash payments to cards is a prime example of how quickly behaviours can evolve , and we should expect further dramatic changes in the future .

26 www . intelligentfin . tech