In the financial world, there has been a lot of talk about going cashless in the future. Every year is the year of mobile payments, although none of these efforts has gained significant traction. Some experts are concerned how phones become so entwined with our daily lives; mobile payments may be greeted with adversity Plus, there are always places where only cash is accepted.
Going cashless sounds great on paper, as it would remove the need to deal with paper bills and coins. Since this form of currency would no longer be accepted, there is no further need for money transport. Moreover, the whole financial ecosystem would be simplified, as consumers become entirely dependent on banks.
Cashless Mobile Payments Are Ahead of Their Time
In fairness, hardly anyone is looking forward to that scenario. Consumers want to control their own money. Even the current financial crisis shows people value cash more than ever before. But the biggest determining factor is how mobile payments can’t seem to gain any traction. Despite best efforts by companies such as Apple and Google, consumers aren’t chomping at the bit to go cashless. There is also a need for merchants to upgrade payment terminals to accept cashless transactions. This added cost may not always outweigh the benefits, as there is no guarantee consumers will use new payment methods. For some places, it is only normal to accept cash and nothing else. My local butcher and baker, for example, only accept cash payments. Albeit bank cards are pretty standard in most developed countries, they are not one payment method to rule them all. Mobile payments will suffer from a similar hurdle. Going cashless is not on the horizon just yet, as there is no need for it right now. Perhaps the biggest problem in cashless payments is thinking the mobile ecosystem is the way to go. Consumers are spending so much time on their phone or tablet already, without completing payments. In a way, we can become oversaturated by impulses from mobile devices. The last thing we want to do is grab our device to pay for every small purchase.