State of the Industry 2017 --- and Where Do You Start?

State of the Industry 2017 --- and Where Do You Start?

Below are highlights from an article stressing the state of the merchant payments industry and below that we will highlight areas of particular opportunity to you as a diligent Digital World Agent building your 'in perpetuity' residual and team:

State Of The Credit Card Processing Industry For 2017

Posted: 2/24/2017 9:46:00 AM

Despite the rapidly evolving payment options that consumers have today, credit cards still remain the leading payment method. In fact, according to the 2016 U.S. Consumer Payment Study, this was the first time that “credit took over the top spot as the overall preferred way to pay, replacing debit as the number-one choice in years past.”
However, that may not last much longer. Between technological advances and the preferences of Millennials, the credit card processing industry is changing on an almost daily basis. With that in-mind, here is the current state of the credit card processing industry for 2017.

Millennials

Millennials are completely disrupting the entire credit card industry. And, that deserves your attention as a merchant or financial institution.
For starters, they’re the largest customer base, are hyper-connected, and educated. They also don’t want debt. According to a Bankrate survey, just 33 percent of Millennials between the ages of 18-29 own a credit card. That’s the lowest among any demographic.

Instead of plastic, Millennials are turning to companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, PayPal, or Square that provide them with digital services, personalization, and availability to real-time data.

To appeal to this demographic, merchants are required to provide nfc and other technologies.

Out With The Old, In With the New

Instead of swiping credit cards or manually entering a customer’s card information, merchants should be looking at the new and exciting ways to process payments, which includes:
Near Field Communication/Bluetooth Low Energy
Popular mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, rely on near field communication (NFC) technology. This technology simply allows customers make a purchase simply by holding their phone to a credit card terminal. This isn’t only convenient, it speeds up the time that customers spend in the checkout line.

Business Insider expects the mobile payments volume to rise to $503 billion by 2020 with 56 percent of the consumer population using mobile payments for in-store purchases.

Continued EMV Adoption

EMV didn’t have the smoothest first year of adoption. Despite the fact that 70 percent of U.S. credit card holders possess EMV chip cards, only between 22 percent and 37 percent of retailers have adopted the technology. “Consumers have the chip-enabled cards and are looking to use them,” said Rob Cameron, chief product and marketing officer at Moneris.

EMV is here to stay and we can anticipate more retailers making the switch over the next couple of years. Besides improving security for customers, EMV terminals are often equipped with NFC technology so that merchants can process cards through contactless methods. Because of this, expect to see the emergence of contactless payments.  

“While the consumer adoption of various contactless pays, such as Apple Pay and others, has yet to set the world on fire, perhaps they will end up giving another reason for merchants to invest into chip terminals,” adds Zilvinas Bareisis, senior analyst at Celent.

Keeping Up With PCI Compliance

In April 2016, PCI DSS 3.2 was released, with version 3.1 being retired on October 31, 2016. These new requirements included:

• Additional multi-factor authentication, which organizations have until February 2018 to comply.
• Incorporation of “Designated Entities Supplemental Validation”
• Extended migration dates for SSL/early TLS

Like EMV, PCI compliance isn’t going away. In fact, it’s required for anyone that accepts credit cards. Failure to comply could result in fines and revocation of your credit card acceptance privileges.

How Big is the Credit Card Processing Industry?

Feb 2017
U.S. General Purpose Brands Purchase Volume in 2016

Purchase volume, which is spending at merchants for goods and services, generated by cards issued in the U.S. totaled $5.143 trillion in 2016.  

Jan 2017
Purchase Volume Worldwide 2015 vs. 2025

Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, American Express, JCB, and Discover/Diners Club are the global brand general purpose cards. By 2025, purchase volume for goods and services by cards with these brands is expected to reach $54.891 trillion. 

Source: Nilson Report 

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Kids, we're sorry if you find card processing a bit 'smart' --
if you're afraid to speak to a merchant --
if you are not techhy --

THE THING YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON IS 

A. THE SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY MEANS YOU ONLY NEED A TINY TEENSY PART,
B. THE SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY MEANS THERE IS ROOM FOR YOU TO BUILD A TEAM OF ZILLIONS OF AGENTS EACH GETTING JUST A FEW MERCHANTS AND
C. THE TECHS AT DW AND ITS PROCESSING PARTNERS TAKE CARE OF ALL THE 'SMART' STUFF, LEAVING YOU TO SHOP, EAT, PURCHASE, ... MEET A FEW LOCAL MERCHANTS....

AND SHARE WITH THEM THE DW BENEFITS TO THEM, by getting them to watch a quick, excellent DW video!

 You see that the industry is beyond ANYTHING ELSE there is -- and growing.  No down quarters ever, since the beginning.  So the question is

Where Do You Start?

Start some chatter by giving your card or flyer out to every establishment you enter today!  Or email one of your personalized videos out to potential agents and merchants tonight!

Repeat!  Repeat!   Repeat!    Repeat!    Repeat!

REMEMBER   you can give your local merchant a 
FREE EMV-NFC TERMINAL already set up and ready to use...AT BEST SERVICE AND RATES!