By Aimee Chanthadavong
As technology grows to play a prominent role in the way consumers are shopping, it is also influencing the way they pay.
It is expected that digital payments will soon replace traditional payment methods, such as the cheque, according to PayPal.
Data collected by the Australian Payments Clearing Association, Cheque Payment Transaction showed that cheque payments have declined by over 61 per cent to 27.6 million from the beginning of the millennium to 2010. At the same time, PayPal has seen an increase of over 25 per cent in its online transactions sent year on year.
Adrian Christie, PayPal Australia spokesperson, told RetailBiz that it’s necessary for retailers to keep up with evolution of payment systems in order to remain successful as there are benefits for them too, including freeing up cash flow.
He said that customers are constantly looking for payment solutions that safe where they are protected from fraud, while meeting their needs of being online, through social networks or web-enabled mobile devices.
Transactions for PayPal’s 35,000 registered businesses have grown 19 per cent year on year, including a large growth in mobile payments over the last year.
Christie also highlighted that the future of money will be in mobile devices as consumers continue to embrace the usage of laptops and mobile devices.
However, he noted that while digital payments become the more popular payment choice, face-to-face point-of-sale interactions experienced in brick and mortar stores will still exist; it will just be another opportunity for how a business will be able reach its customers whilst retaining their bricks and mortar retail stores.