The retail environment has changed significantly in the last two decades – from the race to opening more brick-and-mortar stores to the rise of eCommerce. Consumers have changed too – from expecting to pay with their wearable devices to being able to have merchandise delivered to their doorstep. Retail is constantly evolving and merchants are always looking at innovative in-store technology to bring more shoppers into the store and enhance their shopping experience.
If you’re like me, your shopping habits have changed over the course of the pandemic. Whether that means you now pay with contactless, buy online and pick up in store or just shop online more, most people have leaned into new ways to shop. One trend that is continuing to gain a lot of traction with consumers is Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). With 7% of consumers planning to use BNPL during this holiday season, according to a recent survey. And while that might seem low now, its use is expected to rise over time.
Did you know that mechanical Point of sale (POS) systems have been around since at least 1879? Electronic POS systems were introduced in 1973 – which, depending on how old you are, doesn’t seem that long ago! The 1980s ushered in the digital age, which has brought us to an inflection point of exponential growth opportunities thanks to innovations in quantum computing, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and neuroscience. These developments promise to deliver more than business growth, they have the potential to yield dramatic leaps in human well-being.
The world of cryptocurrency is constantly changing. From the wild swings in value to imaginative new use cases for the currency, the industry is moving at a faster rate than anyone could imagine. Since Bitcoin has been in existence, it has been used as the standard payment model in ransomware attacks all over the globe, but it has also evolved as an important means to transfer value that many technology companies have helped enable. One of the most recent examples comes from AMC and their announcement that they will start accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for movie tickets and concessions by end of 2021.
In my previous blog post, I discussed the growth of QR codes as a payment method and the different types that are available in the market.
To recap, the first one is a Static QR Code that the merchants display for the consumers to scan and pay. The second one is a Dynamic QR Code – Merchant Displayed – which generates a unique QR code for every transaction for the merchant to display and the consumer to scan and pay. The third one is another Dynamic QR Code format – Consumer Displayed – which generates a unique QR code for every transaction on the consumer’s device for the merchant to scan and accept payment.
