Commentary by TSG’s John Jakobe
Merchant acquiring is an industry under transformation. Historically, it has been a steady, mature industry serving the needs of merchants to accept debit and credit cards at the point of sale (POS). It’s safe to say this is not the case anymore.
A sea of change is occurring in the way consumers shop, and that means big implications for the way they pay. Smartphones and tablets are at the heart of this retailing revolution, with new technologies such as cloud, analytics and social media also driving change. These same technologies are enabling new ways of paying and enabling new entrants to bring new payment propositions to the market in a frictionless manner.
So what makes for a typical customer in today’s digital world?
- They want to be able to buy when, where and how they want.
- They switch between different channels as if they are one and the same — and expect the same experience.
- They expect to fulfill all their business management needs from a single solution.