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Education

integrated solution via the cloud and custom API
capabilities, and a once stand-alone ecommerce platform It's simple supply and demand.
now becomes a tightly integrated ecosystems able to When a market experiences a point
communicate with accounting, marketing, social media, of hyper competition, margins tend to
customer relationship management and much more.
The mobile payment revolution continues become compressed. As more and more
capital flows to the payments industry,
According to recent research there are now more than it invariably increases competition
275 million smartphone users in the United Sates; by 2024
the numbers is estimated to top 290 million. Throw in and the likelihood of disruption.
the roll out of 5G over the coming years, and more and
more commerce will take place on our mobile devices. By
2022, it's estimated there will be over $14 trillion in mobile At some point, margin compression will hit cash
payments business transacted. discounting/surcharging as well; hyper competition will
drive down margins; however, in my opinion, we have
This continued, rapid expansion of smartphones use for time until this occurs.
commerce is having a staggering impact on the payments
space. With a solid mobile payment's infrastructure in place Focus continues on EMV, data security, compliance
here in the United States and many payments companies
now offering easy to access SDKs or APIs, developers and As we are all aware, security has been a hot topic for
entrepreneurs can quickly create mobile payment apps in quite some time. With continued data breaches, fraud and
a fraction of the time it takes to deploy a standard terminal identity theft running at record levels, I believe this will
and certify on a processing network. continue to be a hot button issue and initiatives to curb
it will be a major trend. Many states have enacted data
Faster, easier mobile technology means the continuing security and breach laws, and more are on the horizon. I
trend toward cloud-based solutions, cloud-based POS believe standards will continue to be tightened, regulation
functionality, and contactless and mobile application will increase and the cost of maintaining compliance will
development will just get stronger. If you're not on the rise. Along with this cost, you will see more organizations
bandwagon, hitch a ride now. continuing to charge regulatory and PCI noncompliance
fees.
Margin compression persists
Data security is a must have. We've got to maintain
It's simple supply and demand. When a market the integrity of the system and, more importantly, the
experiences a point of hyper competition, margins tend confidence of consumers so they will maintain their card
to become compressed. As more and more capital flows to usage. My suggestion is to do what several other smart
the payments industry, it invariably increases competition organizations have done: make data security, EMV and
and the likelihood of disruption. Untrained, inexperienced PCI compliance one of the focal points of your sales and
merchant level salespeople who give away free terminals marketing efforts.
and don't know how to sell value tend to sell on price.
The question is how can you use you use data security,
Players like Square, Stripe and PayPal are gobbling more EMV and PCI compliance to close more business?
market share at a rapid pace as merchants and consumers
are given more payment and acceptance options. This will There are many more trends than these few, but I expect
continue to drive competition and push margins down. that you get the point. The year is just beginning. Sit down
and spend time focusing on a macro view of the industry
Not everyone is experiencing major margin reductions. and identify underlying trends that will positively and
The companies that are perceived as niche experts, selling negatively affect your business. Once these trends are
targeted solutions and value will likely survive this trend identified, the biggest piece of the puzzle is solved. Then
and even prosper. They are bundling their goods and you can formulate and appropriate plan to deal with each.
services in unique ways that meet customer expectations
and offer a comprehensive solution to their specific Remember the trend is your friend, but you have to
challenges. recognize it first. Have an awesome 2021.

The trend toward cash discounting and surcharging will
continue to be strong. ISOs are using these programs to Marc Beauchamp is author of Survive and Thrive in the Merchant
make up for lost revenues in other areas. Merchants are Services Industry and founder of Bankcard Life, a community for pay-
attracted to saving money in the current environment, and ments professionals. He is offering a free copy of his book to all payments
consumers don't seem to have issues with these programs professionals at www.bankcardlife.com/greensheet. Marc welcomes
at this time. your comments and feedback at marcb@surviveandthrive.biz.
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