2021 Digital Payment Trends: What’s Hot in the Digital Payment Space?

Digital payment tools are threatening to overtake banks with their creative and disruptive solutions. Customers are increasingly adopting these convenient and easy ways to pay for items and utilize their money.

The latest study shows the world payments industry may reach $6.6 trillion in 2021, up from last year’s 5.4 trillion. More estimates show this figure may reach $10.5 trillion in the next four years, and digital payments are a primary driving factor.

2021 Trends in Digital Payments 

Below are the top digital payments trends to watch out for:

1. Payment products

As a persistent pandemic continues to disrupt the normal way of life, more businesses and customers are shifting to contactless payments in almost all checkout points.

Digital solutions power users to pay for items effortlessly through QR codes just by tapping or waving their smartphones. 

A couple of big brands have so far invaded the contactless payment space. Some names include Google, Apple, and Samsung.

2. Fortifying security defenses

Fraud rates spiked with the pandemic and now payment enablers are fortifying their defenses to detect cyber attacks before they compromise transactions. 

Payment firms are leveraging technology to strengthen their security. Some core security features include:

• Biometrics
• Facial recognition, and
• Voice-activated payments.

These solutions seek to add a stronger security layer to the various payment processes by inspecting a user’s specific traits during a transaction.

3. Peer-to-Peer Payments

Peer-to-peer payments are increasing by the day. PayPal is one of the leading P2P payment providers. This year P2P providers are adding more services to their offerings e.g., debit card offers, Trading & Investments, and crypto payments. For today’s consumers, these solutions are like the modern bank.

4. Business to Business Payments

Unlike B2C payments, B2B has been slow to digitize the payment processes. But fintech firms are working to improve the payment ecosystem for business-to-business transactions.

In essence, these groundbreaking financial technology companies plan to bring the same speed, convenience and security enjoyed in B2C payments.

5. Integrated payments

Integrated payments create a connected shopping and checkout experience. Customers appreciate the convenience of this approach because it simplifies the shopping process. In essence, shoppers do not expect businesses to seclude payments as a separate part of the trade, rather it should be embedded into the customer journey.

Author Bio: Content crafter Alex Wilmont has been active in the payments industry for over 15 years. He lives simply, gives generously and loves his 2 dogs. His mission is to enhance and innovate the fintech industry for years to come.