the future with mobile wallets?

Truth to be told, the first thing that I always reached out for every single morning, is not a glass of water or my glasses... it's actually my mobile phone! I'll always make sure that I leave my phone an arm-length reach from me before I sleep else, I'll feel really insecure (and that being said, it's been a daily habit to scroll through my phone before I sleep!).

it's more than a communication tool.

Due to the rising pace of digitalisation, the mobile device(s) that we each own is not only a communication tool, but it's a platform for mobile marketing, mobile applications, and acts as a wallet too! I think most of us, will not be too unfamiliar with Apple Pay? Grab Pay? Fave Pay? I'm actually an avid user of mobile wallet especially Grab Pay! Often, when I forget my physical wallet, I'm not too worried as a lot of merchants are now accepting digital wallets. This definitely brings lots of convenience to the consumers. 

Mobile wallets are more of marketing platform than payments!

It's estimated by 2022, the transaction value of mobile wallets will reach a nearly $14 trillion globally! Payment apps are also adopted a lot quicker in countries like China (Alipay, WechatPay). It's inevitable that mobile wallets are rising in popularity hence, a lot of businesses are using this as a marketing platform to engage with their consumers with more relevant content and offer more value added services. 

So how does businesses revolve their strategy around mobile wallets? 

Eg. Starbucks

Starbucks is a brand that thinks ahead in terms of mobile wallets. 

Navigating through Starbucks app is super quick and easy, consumers are able to top up their card digitally, making payment through the scan of barcode, gifting and earning of loyalty points. More than 50% of the respondents stated that loyalty program/discounts and deals are the top feature they look for in a mobile wallet.  

So, how's the result? 

Despite, having strong competitor like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay, Starbucks remained as the most popular payment app in United States at least till 2022. Starbucks is currently one of the leading brand that incorporates all these features into one app along with their branded content. What constitute to it's success story? Starbucks app has the ability to tie payment to its loyalty rewards program which help users to save time and be more convenient (at the cash register!), while racking up the rewards and offers. It's simple and fuss-free! 

 

Take a look at my own personal Starbucks that I use it often in my school Starbucks outlet! The moment I open my app, the current balance in my card will be shown clearly and paying in store is a click away! I very much prefer using mobile wallet to pay for it rather than cash + Starbucks card is simply because it's more easy and quicker! I can save the hassle to hand the cash and loyalty card when all I need is to open my Starbucks app, scan the barcode and all is done! Overall, it provide a positive user-experience mobile app + wallet. 

Most importantly, consumers like me are highly incentivised by the app! 

Eg. AliPay

While, AliPay is not yet widely adopted in Singapore, it's one of the key player in the mobile payment market in China! It had obtained more than half of share of the China's market, and has over taken PayPal as the world's largest payment platform since 2013. 

What's the leading factor as opposed to PayPal? 

PayPal is connected with credit card and focuses on online peer-to-peer payment based on an email whereas, AliPay provide escrow feature (which I personally think is a great idea!) to maintain the integrity and trust between seller and buyer. 

Other than that, AliPay has features like - transportation ticket services, delivery services, digital banking and so on, to be gathered in one app at a blistering speed. Isn't this what majority of the consumers look for? Easy, quick and convenient! 

AliPay is also very popular with their 'hongbao' feature, a digitally way of gifting red packet via the app. However, in China, AliPay has very strong competitors - Tencent & WeChat so, AliPay didn't emerged as the winning player for the number of virtual red packets sent during Chinese New Year. 

gotcha the hongbao. 

However, AliPay has definitely proven its great innovation and creativity through the various well designed campaign with AR technology (inspired by Pokemon Go!). Users can hide and collect in real locations by scanning the objects. Retailers like Coca-Cola & KFC, have also registered themselves in giving away cash and vouchers to the AliPay's users. 

So, how's the result? 

This campaign certainly strengthen the sociability and engagement between AliPay and its users. It's also an interesting activity that targets a lot of the younger generation, and forges a community among the users, furthermore, they will also engage with the 'sponsored content/advertisement' to reveal the hongbao location.  

This is a good stepping stone for AliPay as from the business perspective, it has created a buzz among the consumers, and when they participate in the game, users will link their bank account to the AliPay platform, this will help AliPay in increasing the proliferation of mobile payment system. 

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Overall, mobile wallets are slowly getting adopted by many users in the world. However, it's important to note that the future of mobile wallets will be more than merely payment, think - loyalty programme, rewards, engagement and relevant content! It's always good to think further!

That's all for mobile marketing/mobile wallets! :) Please let me know if you've any comments, or if you know of any brand or business that have good strategy in mobile marketing. Thank you in advance!