Payments technology: The latest trends and innovations in payments

Whether you’re an omnichannel retailer, digital business, or a platform looking to expand your offering, this blog post will cover the latest payments technology trends to be aware of.

In-person payments will continue to be prominent as long as customers shop in physical stores. Many businesses are moving from traditional hardware payment solutions to software-based alternatives to enhance the payment experience.

Software-based point of sale (SoftPOS) payment solutions allow businesses to accept contactless payments on devices that aren’t traditionally used at point-of-sale, such as smartphones. These solutions offer a secure and seamless checkout experience that allows businesses to quickly get up and running since all they need to do is install it on their device. As a result, many businesses are choosing these all-in-one devices that work in different settings.

Adyen’s Tap to Pay allows businesses to accept contactless payments directly on a compatible device without extra terminals or hardware needed. There is both Tap to Pay on iPhone and Tap to Pay on Android. With Tap to Pay, you can accept payments the moment your customers are ready to buy and provide them with effortless payment experiences.

The demand for instant payouts increases as we move towards a real time economy. Our research with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that 75% of small to medium-sized business (SMB) users who use a platform or marketplace to run their business expressed the need for same-day settlement or faster.

For businesses that payout funds to sellers, vendors, gig economy workers, or partners, the faster they can pay out their users, the happier they will be. With instant payouts, funds can be available in minutes, helping improve cash flow efficiency, enhance user experience, build trust, and gain a competitive advantage.

With Adyen's Payout Services, you can send real-time payouts. We process payments and payouts on our single banking infrastructure without any third parties involved and connect to card and banking schemes. As a result, we enhance payout speed, operational simplicity, and cash flow efficiency by eliminating unnecessary delays and intermediaries in the fund transfer process. 

Since we process payouts 24/7 in key markets (US, UK, EU), our processing time is up to three days faster than the industry standard. Other providers can't process 24/7, often resulting in days of delay.

Emerging technology and growing user demand have opened a window of opportunity for platforms to provide financial services to the small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) on their platform. 

SMBs are often underserved by traditional financial institutions and struggle to get the financial support they need. Platforms can now help them by adding financial products to their offering.

Adyen’s Embedded Financial Product Suite allows you to offer your users the financial support they need directly through your platform. With Accounts and Capital, your users have access to business bank accounts and the capital they need to grow.

As consumers rethink their spending, businesses are exploring innovative ways to align with their customers' dynamic preferences and behavior. Investing in personalization and utilizing first-party payments data proves to be a cost-effective and accurate approach. 27% of retailers have already committed to investing in collecting and analyzing payments data this year, marking a noteworthy 23% increase from the previous year.

Customers expect personalized experiences that cater to their specific needs. Obtaining the right data is crucial to understanding each customer and creating relevant offerings. Payments data is a goldmine for valuable customer insights. This includes information such as where they are, what device they're using, which channels they like, and what payment methods they prefer. These insights help create personalized experiences for all customers, such as a checkout that adapts to their location and preferred payment methods. 

Payments data also allows you to identify previously anonymous in-store transactions and connect them to online customer profiles. This is a huge opportunity for businesses that struggle to identify their customers in stores, helping them enhance their loyalty programs, segment and target their customers, and improve resource allocation.

Adyen gives you a single view of customers across devices, channels, and markets, helping you to build a deep understanding of your customers. By providing your customers with personalized experiences, you can gain a competitive advantage and drive more value for your business.

Needing to stand up and get your card can have a significant impact on the overall payment experience and risks cart abandonment. With Pay by Bank, customers can enjoy a tailored and seamless payment journey by allowing users to pay directly from their preferred banking environment.

Pay by Bank is an account-to-account based payment method that gives businesses the opportunity to reduce costs as it can lower acceptance costs.

When a shopper chooses to pay by bank, they will automatically be presented with the most fitting authentication method. This can be a QR code to a bank portal log-in or an application switch, depending on their bank and country. 

Adyen's bank-based payment offering allows customers to easily pay by bank through an account-to-account payment that makes for a user-friendly, secure and cost-effective payment experience. It’s developed as a white-label solution and is available across all major operating systems, including API, web, iOS, and Android devices.

The payments industry is constantly evolving with new trends, technology, and innovations emerging. Businesses that want to keep up and gain a competitive advantage need to anticipate future trends and have the necessary resources in place to adapt.

With Adyen, you always have access to the latest payments technology. Our financial technology platform helps simplify your business and consolidate your payments into one system. This makes introducing new technology, opening new channels, and expanding to new regions easier.

We use industry-wide data to give us insights into what works so we can build a solution for all businesses.

Get started with the latest payments innovations here.