7 Key Payment Predictions For 2016

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

This year could see an explosion of new payment innovations and transformations.

The payment industry saw tremendous advances in 2015, from the introduction of new products and solutions on the payment technology side to increased merchant and consumer adoption of a broad range of new payment types. Ingenico asked several payment experts to weigh in on what 2016 could bring in for the industry. Here’s what they predict:

1. Merchants will explore value-added services. According to Chris Kronenthal, chief technology officer at FreedomPay, “What you’ll see toward the end of 2016, once all of that market mindshare is changed and people become more comfortable with the new technology, is a shift back toward value-added services. These value-added services could range from cross-channel inventory management, loyalty programs, etc.”
2. Mobile Point-of-Sale will become more pervasive. As Jeremy Gumbley, chief technology officer of Creditcall, predicted, “We’re probably going to see a lot more mPOS in 2016 and mostly because of the EMV migration, as people are starting to have these conversations now. In 2016, I think that the kinds of applications that we see running on mPOS and the mobile platform as a whole will increase.”
3. NFC/Contactless Payment Ecosystem will grow. Jordan McKee, senior analyst, mobile payments at 451 Research, explained, “With so many options for mobile wallet out there, we often characterize this as a mobile wallet war, and that’s perhaps a bit inaccurate.” Instead, he said, “it’s going to be more of an ecosystem than a ‘winner takes all,’ which is certainly a good thing for everyone in this space.”
4. The Omnichannel strategy will become a reality. Benoit Boudier, corporate strategy, Americas, Ingenico Group, asserts, “2016 will be the year when these buzzwords [mobile and omnichannel] will be transformed into concrete solutions that help customers solve their pain points.” And Rod Hometh, senior vice president of strategic development, North America, Ingenico Group, pointed out, “Retailers are exploring solutions for a wide range of cross-channel use cases, such as enabling their customers to start a sale at home and finish it in the store, or start a sale on their mobile device and complete it on an unattended kiosk.”
5. Semi-integrated adoption will rise. Ian Drysdale, executive vice president, business development and sales, Elavon, asserts that great opportunity for semi-integrated adoption exists in healthcare and hospitality, stating that a semi-integrated solution “takes the merchants away from having the risky responsibility of having cardholder data, and it’s fast and easy to integrate, especially for merchants who still aren’t ready for EMV.”
6. Payment security will continue to be a big focus. In the wake of serious card data breaches in 2014 and 2015, many merchants have had to re-examine their approaches to security. Ruston Miles, co-founder and chief innovation officer at Bluefin Payment Systems, says that will translate into a new emphasis on point-of-sale security. “Technologies like point-to-point encryption or end-to-end encryption will really come to the forefront protecting point-of-sale systems from malware and other attacks like it.”
7. More retailers will adopt unattended payment solutions. Greg Burch, vice president of strategic initiatives, U.S., at Ingenico Group, says that “moving into 2016, we see unattended solutions, such as vending machines and kiosks, grow into the acceptance of mobile wallet. We also see these solutions grow within traditional retail environments.” Kiosks can help streamline the checkout experience while also reducing the bottom line for retailers.