Are You On Board With the Future of Payment Systems?
With Bitcoin growing exponentially in popularity, experts forecast 50 million users by the end of 2015. By next year, Bitcoin users will outnumber PayPal users. Time to consider upgrading to Bitcoin payments?
4. QR code-based payments: So far QR codes have been treated as a marketer's toy, a minor tool that could be used to create quizzes or give out coupon codes. With the advent of payment mechanisms like Zapper and PayPal's QR code reader, users can now scan QR codes printed on a receipt and the required amount is automatically credited to the merchant's account.
Target has implemented QR codes on select products. The next time you're shopping at Target and an item catches your fancy, don't bother going up to the cash register to pay for it. Just scan the QR code on the product (with your Target payment app) and the amount is immediately deducted from your account, and the product is shipped off to your registered address.
Starbucks' mobile payment app works on QR code technology as well, but uses it backwards. The app generates a QR code that contains the user's payment details. When the user's phone is scanned by the existing POS system at a Starbucks outlet, the amount due is debited automatically from their account. The genius in this system is that instead of printing a QR code in the receipt and letting the user scan it to make payments, Starbucks instead modified its existing infrastructure to accept payments.
5. Person-to-Person (P-to-P) payments: P-to-P payments basically deal with payments made by users to their friends, kind of like splitting a check at a restaurant between two to three friends. The most common use cases for P-to-P payments include dining, gifting cash, entertainment (e.g., movie or event tickets), household utilities, rent, etc. Apps such as Venmo allow users to send money to their friends by writing a simple message and the amount to be transferred via their smartphones. The best part about P-to-P payment apps is that money transfer is either free or negligible, depending on the card or bank account linked to these apps.
- People:
- Ryan Rommann
Rohan Ayyar is the regional marketing manager for India at SEMrush. His blog, The Marketing Mashup, covers digital marketing from the perspective of B2B, B2C, lead generation, mobile marketing, SEO, social media, content marketing, database marketing including predictive analytics, and conversion rate optimization. In addition, he'll look at emerging marketing technology and how marketers can use it. Reach Ayyar at searchrook@gmail.com.
