Consumers are moving away from cash, favoring new payment methods that provide convenience. These include mobile wallets and in-app payments. These are also more secure than traditional payments.
Other emerging methods of payment include ‘buy now pay later’ platforms like Afterpay and Klarna. These allow consumers to buy goods online with interest-free installments.
PayPal
PayPal is a payment system that lets people buy things and transfer money to friends or family without sharing their bank account information. It also allows businesses to accept payments online and in person.
The service is free to use, but there are transaction fees. The company offers a number of security features, including data encryption, optional two-factor account logins and email confirmations.
PayPal also allows users to link multiple credit cards to one account, so they can still earn rewards on their individual cards. It also offers a business debit card that can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay is a secure way to make payments in apps or physical stores that use point-of-sale systems compatible with NFC technology (near-field communication). When you use Apple Pay, your credit and debit card information is stored on your iPhone and protected by several built-in security features, including Touch ID.
The payment process is fast and easy. When you purchase something with Apple Pay, your shipping and billing address is automatically entered, and the transaction is verified by a passcode or Face ID.
Unlike magnetic stripe cards, which broadcast your actual card number to the payments reader, Apple Pay uses Device Account Numbers and dynamic security codes that are unique to each purchase. You can also use Apple Pay in apps on your iPhone or Mac.
Google Pay
Google Pay is a mobile payments solution that lets users store credit cards, debit cards, loyalty cards and more. It was launched in 2018 as a revamp of the legacy Google Wallet and Android Pay apps and services.
It works by transmitting a virtual account number that’s unique to each transaction to the point-of-sale terminal via near-field communication. This makes contactless payments more secure than swiping your card as merchants won’t see your real card number.
The platform allows users to pay within apps and websites using Google’s Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology. When a user taps the payment button, they see a list of payment methods saved to their Google Account and can select one to complete the transaction. Merchants can integrate Google Pay by following the reference documentation for their processor or gateway.
Cash App
Cash App is a mobile payment app that allows you to send and receive money. It works similar to PayPal, but has several features that set it apart. For example, it can hold funds until you are ready to withdraw them and offers cashback offers at restaurants and stores. It also allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin.
To use Cash App, you must link your bank account to the app. Then, select a dollar amount from the green payments tab and tap Pay. You can then send the amount as currency, a gift card, or bitcoin. You can also choose to add a note.
Cash App is a peer-to-peer payment service that was launched in 2013. It is owned by Square, Inc., a leading financial technology company that provides point-of-sale hardware and software for businesses.
Visa Checkout
Visa Checkout allows users to store their credit card and debit card information in a single account and then use it for on line purchases. They then just enter their username and password to speed through the checkout process. This system will evaluate risk at each step of the transaction to help prevent fraud and is fully integrated with the payment network tokenization tools.
Adding this option to your checkout flow is fairly easy for eCommerce providers, gateways and acquirers. It only requires a few HTML/javascript tags and minimal front end changes to your website.
comScore research shows that websites that support Visa Checkout see 66% higher conversions than those that do not. This is because the system removes one of the key barriers to cart abandonment – requiring multiple form fields to checkout.