Third edition of global Visa study highlights top areas of payment technology
investment for small businesses in 2021
As the one-year mark of the Covid-19 pandemic approaches and digital payments play a larger role in daily life around the world, there will be no reverse gear on consumer behavior as we head into 2021. In the third edition of its global research study, the “Visa Back to Business Study – 2021 Outlook,” Visa found that the continued small and micro business (“SMB”) shift towards digital commerce will evolve in the New Year and bring an increased focus on areas such as security and fraud prevention, and more emerging payment tools such as ‘buy now, pay later’ and mobile payment acceptance.
Read More: Former Salt CEO, Shawn Owen, Launches Equa’s New Blockchain Enabled Incentive Plans
“With greater hindsight into 2020, we can clearly see that the digital payment experiences that exceled the most – contactless and eCommerce – were driven out of necessity and have become more habitual in people’s daily lives at a pace not often seen”
According to the study, by the end of 2020, 82% of SMBs surveyed had embraced new forms of digital technology to meet changing consumer behaviors. Looking ahead to 2021, SMBs are assessing what other payment technologies are critical to meeting today’s consumer expectations, with results led by security and fraud management software (47%), contactless or mobile payment acceptance (44%), accepting payments via mobile device (41%), installments or ‘buy now, pay later’ (36%) and digital backend payment operations (31%).
“With greater hindsight into 2020, we can clearly see that the digital payment experiences that exceled the most – contactless and eCommerce – were driven out of necessity and have become more habitual in people’s daily lives at a pace not often seen,” said Kevin Phalen, global head of business solutions, Visa. “If 2020 was the year of contactless and eCommerce, results of this study tell us that 2021 will bring greater attention to security and fraud prevention, and trial of more emerging digital commerce tools that help businesses thrive.”
All markets surveyed have seen a rapid adoption of new payment technologies and changing consumer behavior related to commerce. Additional findings from the study in Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and United States, highlight the depth of the impact in 2020 and expectations for 2021:
Read More: GlobalFintechSeries Interview with Dr. Vincent Pignon, CEO at Wecan Group
The Road to Recovery for SMBs in 2021
- Contactless Payments Are Here To Stay: The global rise of contactless payments in 2020, spurred by challenges including consumers looking for safer ways to pay amidst the pandemic, is showing no signs of slowing down in the New Year. In fact, in June 2020 only 20% of SMBs surveyed had offered contactless payments for the first time — now, 39% report they have started to accept new digital forms of payments. Nearly three in four (74%) SMBs expect consumers to continue preferring contactless payments even after a vaccine is widely available.
- SMBs Meet Consumers Where They Are: SMBs have steadily increased their efforts to meet consumers where they are now: online. Globally, 82% of SMB owners have made updates to their operations to meet the increasing demand for digital payments, up from 67% in summer 2020 when the first Visa Back to Business Study was released.
- The Fight Against Fraud: Tech-savvy business owners (52%) are more likely than their novice counterparts (39%) to invest in security and fraud protection. Recognizing the significance of and responding to a potential fraud attack will continue to be a decided advantage in 2021 as the shift to digital sales continues to increase. Despite concern, global fraud rates remain at historic lows, at roughly $0.007 for every $1.001.
Read More: Prepare for Treasury & Risk Management Transformation with These 5 Tips
