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Meanwhile, a survey of U.S. consumers by Coresight Re- barcodes more often than before the pandemic; another 18
search found nearly 60 percent of consumers now buy gro- percent are first-time users, according to Blackhawk.
ceries online, and better than 60 percent plan to do so with
the same or greater frequency once the pandemic subsides. BNPL, not just a consumer play
The business of payments is all about customer choice.
Global ecommerce creates new needs "Choice is what's important," Forzley said. For many con-
sumers, and business payers, too, being able to choose
International ecommerce has also grown, as more con- when to pay for their purchases is more important than
sumers leery of traveling overseas settle instead for shop- ever. "BNPL is not displacing credit or debit card pay-
ping around the globe from the comfort of home. Marwan ments. It's really about giving customers options," Forzley
Forzley, CEO at Veem, observed that "ecommerce removes said. "BNPL has legs, not just in the U.S., but in many other
borders." markets," he added.

This has created pressure on ecommerce merchants to ac- "BNPL vendors and their solutions have exploded in pop-
commodate expanded payment options. Forty-three per- ularity in recent years, propelled by the COVID-19 pan-
cent of ecommerce merchants reported lost revenues in demic and rapid digital-commerce growth, and is expect-
2020 because they didn't offer local payment methods in ed to drive well over $1 trillion in merchant sales by 2024,"
countries where surges in demand occurred, according to said Ginger Schmeltzer, strategic advisor at Aite-Novarica
Mercator. Group.

There's a strong need for ecommerce merchants with glob- Mercator reported the BNPL market grew from $3 billion
al aspirations to offer payment methods that meet their in 2019 to $39 billion in 2020. According to Vicky Bindra,
business needs and also align with local market prefer- chief product officer at FIS, BNPL is "one of the fastest
ences, Apgar stated. "An ecommerce merchant in the U.S. growing alternative payment models globally—it is trans-
needs to accept China's UnionPay, otherwise they are not forming the traditional purchasing experience for both
going to be in the game," he said. consumers and merchants." FIS is one of several compa-
nies partnering with Mastercard on a new BNPL platform
Foreign exchange capabilities also become crucial; so does called Mastercard Installments. Visa created its own BNPL
integration of payments with lending tools, like buy now platform, with an initial launch in Canada, in partnership
pay later, Forzley said. Apgar added that merchants also with Global Payments and Desjardins, a Quebec-based
need to be aware of the different fraud prevention tech- card issuer.
niques available in different countries. "When you go out-
side the U.S. there's no AVS," for example, he said. Crone suggested that BNPL offers merchants a less expen-
sive way to accept payments, free of processing fees. Plus,
Share of wallet becomes top of mobile wallet in cases of online buying, which he said accounts for the

Digital wallets have proven popular for both in-person majority of BNPL, merchants benefit from reduced cart
and online shoppers. Blackhawk reported that 59 percent abandonment and increased average tickets.
of consumers across nine countries started using, or in-
creased use of, digital wallets since the pandemic began; While BNPL appeals to cash-strapped and/or budget-con-
17 percent reported using a digital wallet for the first time scious consumers, "small businesses can benefit similarly,"
last year. Forzley said. In August, Veem, which specializes in online
payments, introduced a BNPL option for business-to-busi-
"We used to talk a lot about share of wallet," Apgar said. ness transactions.
"[Digital] wallets are now making decisions for us." The
concept of "top of wallet," he said, has transitioned to what Most small businesses face cash flow obstacles or simply
cards are loaded onto a consumer's digital wallet. want to hold onto cash to buy more inventory, Forzley not-
ed. And because Veem has access to a company's payment
Quick response codes are another example of a technol- history and business transactions through payment ser-
ogy that has found purpose during the pandemic. While vices provided, the company can offer them the option of
QR codes have been around for years, they mostly served paying off a transaction in equal increments across three
as an information tool: snap a picture of the code to be months, he added.
taken to a website for more information about a product
or service. When restaurants began reopening, many al- "Businesses might be rebounding, but what owners aren't
lowed consumers to snap pictures of QR codes to view aware of is they still need help managing cash flow in or-
menus. der to keep their doors open," Veem Chief Growth Officer
Jeff Revoy, said in a press release about the company's new
Now QR codes are emerging as a payment tool, as well, Pay Later option.
with use cases with grocers, restaurants and online stores. Patti Murphy is senior editor at The Green Sheet and self-described pay-
Globally, 58 percent of consumers are using QR codes and ments maven of the fourth estate. Follow her on Twitter @GS_PayMaven
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