New research shows Singapore businesses are actively leveraging payment insights to drive business decisions, manage risk and increase loyalty
SINGAPORE – 12 September 2019 – Retailers are leveraging payments to create shopping journeys that increase customer loyalty and engagement. This is according to a new IDC research survey commissioned by Adyen, the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies.
“A commonly held belief is that payment innovation is about a new way for customers to pay. For example, the addition of new payment wallets or the acceptance of new devices,” said Michael Yeo, Senior Research Manager, IDC. “In truth, payment innovation is about the use of technology to build experiences like endless aisles for customers across online, mobile and in-store. Businesses who understand that payment can be a strategic business enabler will win the battle for the shopper.”
In the latest research, Payments Culture in Singapore: How Businesses Must Transform, which studies the local payment landscape, IDC identifies 3 important pillars for building a frictionless customer experience:
* The Use of Payment Data as an Identifier — Payment data is now a strategic business enabler, connecting customers across channels. 39% of businesses are able to, and do, identify their customers via payment methods. This allows them to offer additional experiences across online, mobile and in-store experiences to build loyalty.
* The Use of a Single Payment Platform Across Channels – 93% of businesses who use a combined payment platform noted that doing so accelerated the identification of friction points in a customer’s journey to the checkout. The ability to quickly identify and fix key friction points drives additional revenues — for example, past research from Adyen shows that 89% of Singapore customers have walked away from a purchase due to long lines. Retailers can use queue busting techniques such as mobile point of sale systems to solve this.
* The Use of Payments to Create Transformative Experiences for Customers — As customers’ expectations continue to rise, merchants are beginning to invest in technologies to reduce friction in the payment process. The research shows 53% of merchants are already offering seamless payment journeys through the use of one-click ordering and auto renewals for recurring payments. 63% offer swipe or tap contactless type payments for in-store transactions. IDC and Adyen believe that more can be done to reduce payment friction.
“Adyen has always believed that payments can be the glue to create new shopper journeys. For businesses, it’s no longer enough just to be present in various online and offline channels, it’s now about how relevant you are to shoppers,” Warren Hayashi, President, Adyen, Asia-Pacific. “To succeed, businesses must consider the relevance of the payment methods they’re offering to customers. Are your customers time-starved — are they “tokenizing” their cards to enable faster checkouts? Are they gadget friendly — using smart watches to pay or using their phones to take public transport? The shopper has already decided to purchase an item, don’t let a bad payments experience make them walk away.”
[1] Preliminary findings of an on-going survey on payments, “Payments Culture in Singapore: How Businesses Must Transform.” This is based on a final sample size of 375 businesses in APAC as of September 2019, of which the preliminary results represent 30% in Singapore.
