How Consumers Prefer to Pay for Online & Mobile Purchases

In the U.S. market, we’ve grown accustomed to the notion that we can buy anything, anytime, online. When we do, we usually are charging that purchase to a credit card—often one that is stored online.

Now that many people are using their mobile phones for everything while on the go, there’s renewed interest in mobile payments.

If you’re interested in figuring out how the new world of ubiquitous mobile payments will look and who the dominant players will be, don’t start with the U.S. market. It’s too backward when it comes to mobile phone usage compared to the rest of the world.

U.S. consumers are also behind the technology curve when it comes to banking practices. Everywhere else in the world, people pay their routine bills bank-to-bank. And they pay each other phone-to-phone. Nobody uses checks. In many other parts of the world, consumers don’t like to use credit cards or debit cards. They prefer to keep their money in interest-bearing accounts and to control how and when they spend it.

Mobile Payment Solutions. So, let’s take a step back in thinking about m-commerce. How will people want to pay for things they purchase with their mobile phones (for consumer or business use)? Will we all be using e-wallets with loyalty cards, earning and redeeming points each time we transact? Will we want to select among several different payment methods from our phone at the point of sale? Or, will we want to separate payment from buying? What if we could buy things quickly and easily from our phones and then settle up later, choosing the most opportune payment mechanism to optimize our cash flow and to maximize rewards?

Here’s a look at Klarna—a Stockholm-based deferred payment provider—that is well-positioned to become a de facto standard in online and mobile payment solutions.

~ Patty

Will Klarna Become a Major Player?

Invoicing for Consumers Who Want to Pay After Receipt of Goods
By Patricia B. Seybold, CEO and Senior Consultant, Patricia Seybold Group, March 14, 2013