India is going through a paradigm shift in the way people make and receive payments. Digital payment have completely transformed our lives. Merchants and businesses all over the country are quickly adopting new ways and preparing to benefit from this growing change in the mindset of consumers.
Digital payments are having game-changing effects on businesses and have become more than a tool to accept online payments thanks to online payment gateway service providers.
They are having a ripple effect on revenue, customer relations, and profits as there is no need to carry physical currency or cards anymore, making transactions faster and safer.
Today’s consumer prefers faster, secure, and more convenient methods of payment compared to the clientele of yesteryears. And digital payments offer everything that they could have asked for. It’s a win-win situation for both businesses and consumers.
What changed in the last couple of years?
The COVID-19 pandemic has made people averse to dealing in cash due to the risk of infection. Couple that with the government’s push towards a digital economy with groundbreaking applications such as UPI and BHIM, and you have the perfect recipe to shift people’s mindset towards going cashless.
Moreover, with the proliferation of digital wallets such as Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe, etc. it has become easier for people to make microtransactions on a day-to-day basis without the need to carry petty cash.
How can Merchants benefit from this shift in consumer mindset?
As consumers’ mindsets change, merchants will have to think from their perspective to benefit from this momentum. They will have to provide them with an easy and customized checkout experience while ensuring zero transaction errors and giving them a seamless and secure online shopping experience regardless of the device they are on.
This will go a long way in ensuring lower cart abandonments while increasing brand loyalty and revenue. Therefore, it’s really important to make the checkout experience as smooth and personalized as possible.
This can be achieved using the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data to offer a customized experience to every individual shopper, which means that every checkout experience is unique and built specifically for that individual.
The Most Popular forms of Digital Payments
Gone are the days when credit/debit cards and net banking were the norms. Today’s consumer has access to a plethora of digital payment options that are making lives easier and transactions faster and more secure.
Let’s look at a few of the popular digital payment modes that have taken the markets by storm.
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UPI-
Also known as United Payments Interface, this groundbreaking technology has recorded over 2.8 billion transactions which were worth over ₹5 trillion in June 2021. It works across almost every bank, apps, and digital wallet giving a seamless online transaction experience to customers regardless of their device, bank account, or the application they are using.
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Digital Wallets-
Almost everyone is using a smartphone these days and has access to digital wallets. Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe are three of the leading players in the industry with a 12%, 35%, and 46% market share respectively. They are not only making micro-transactions possible but also enabling easy peer-to-peer payments making them a hot favorite with the millennial generation, while also acting as a merchant payment gateway for online transactions.
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QR Codes-
This has come as a boon to both merchants and consumers alike. Merchants no longer require expensive POS devices, as QR codes only require a printout to function (they can be scanned directly from the phone screen as well) not only have they reduced the overhead costs associated with accepting digital payments, they work seamlessly across digital wallets and other applications. And since users don’t need to share their banking information while scanning such codes, it makes it a much safer alternative compared to using cards or net banking.
Digital Payments have not only changed the mindset of the consumer but also merchants by offering a seamless experience for both while conducting day-to-day business. As it continues to penetrate deeper into the market, it will only continue to grow by leaps and bounds, and will potentially push us towards a cashless economy in the coming future.
