Internet of Things Elicits Impulse Buying
As more and more consumers embrace the Internet of Things (IoT), payments transactions are becoming quicker and easier for would-be buyers. IoT devices—those with embedded and networked sensors that are able to transmit information and allow consumers to purchase directly from the device—are showing up across industries and sectors.
IoT devices such as Amazon Dash buttons (WiFi-connected devices that reorder your favorite product with the press of a button), Amazon Echo/Alexa, and Samsung Family Hub, as well as payment-enabling apps are becoming more relevant and easily accessible to consumers in their homes or offices.
The new reliance on IoT and other mobile devices creates an environment for greater impulse purchases, according to a new report from Javelin, “2016 Online Retail Payments Forecast.” Almost half of all dollars spent online will come from online purchases made using a mobile device by 2020, fueled by contextual shopping, “mobile first” mentality, and increasing reliance on mobile devices, according to the report. Javelin predicts that 49 percent of online purchases will be made using PCs or laptops, while 51 percent of online purchases will be made via mobile devices, including IoT devices, by 2020.
“As consumers move to a ‘mobile first’ mentality when it comes to e-commerce, they are relying on the most frictionless payments to complete purchases on the go,” says Michael Moeser, director of payments at Javelin. “Consumers will increasingly gravitate to using payment forms that offer the easiest, fastest, and most secure payment methodology, particularly one that also integrates shipping/billing addresses as this removes the challenges of typing on a smaller phone keyboard.”
FAST FACT:
“By 2025, biometric authentication will be standard for trillions of annual payments and information transactions, and by 2030 physical payment mechanisms such as debit and credit cards will become inconvenient and increasingly not accepted.”
Source: Maxine Most, Acuity Market Intelligence