Mastercard conducted a survey on new payments across 18 markets globally and a majority of consumers polled said they were willing to consider cashless methods such as digital or mobile wallets, QR codes and even cryptocurrencies on e-commerce sites. Sandeep Malhotra, executive vice president of products and innovation for Asia Pacific at Mastercard said, “Ninety percent of the consumers have tried at least one emerging payment type in the last year. And out of those, two thirds of them have actually done it for the first time. And 60% of the consumers would like to shy away from the merchants who do not offer electronic payments of any kind”.
Threats over cyber security have become a growing concern as more people turn to payments online. According to the survey, one out of four consumers have experienced some kind of a fraud last year. And just because everybody was staying home, there was a good 49% increase in cybercrime.
As a result, Mastercard has taken a number of measures to build consumer confidence when using its credit cards for online payments. They are creating safe and secure solutions, and offering that comfort to the customer. Whether it’s using biometrics or using different kinds of verification methods beyond pins and passwords. And that is the assurance the consumer is looking for.
At the end of the day, the consumers have to be aware what their information is being used for. It’s safe to say there is greater awareness now, with the data protection act, about what kind of information that they should give to platforms that are collecting those data.
