Consumers Eager for Mobile Payments Innovation, But Are Comforted by Routine

In movies these days, it seems like about the only way to get ahead is by bringing out new stuff that feels a lot like old stuff. Where it’s not sequels and reboots, it’s “X meets Y” or “like X, only with (fill in the blank)”. As it turns out, based on a new study from TSYS, it’s a similar situation in the mobile payments arena, where customers want innovation, but feel most comfortable with the old and familiar brands.

TSYS noted the dichotomy right away; its first study seven years ago was focused mainly on debit and credit cards. Reasonable enough, especially given that Apple Pay wouldn’t exist for another three years or so after that study launched. Now, while legacy data on credit and debit is still important, TSYS is finding that it has to cover more and more ground to actually cover the field as it’s working now.

Even with all these new tools, customers aren’t turning to them in numbers that make the idea particularly compelling to TSYS. While just over one in four Americans has a voice-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) assistant in their homes like Amazon’s Alexa, most aren’t using these devices for anything payments-related, rather on setting up appointments and such.

This is likely to change; TSYS expects ownership of such devices to go mainstream in three to five years, and as the assistants improve, so too will they be used for purposes more in line with TSYS’ bailiwick, including shopping and banking. There’s fertile enough ground for such a conclusion; 60 percent of those who already own smart speakers are looking for such opportunities.

TSYS might be getting a little optimistic here; there are still plenty of people who don’t much care for the potential listening nature that smart speakers have, and may respond accordingly in the market. Still though, it’s reasonable enough to say that those who already have smart speakers and use them routinely will want to take advantage of more ways to put these tools to work.

So soon, we may well be putting Alexa et al to work transferring funds or paying bills or even ordering pizza—a point we’ve already seen somewhat—and for many, this will prove a welcome development.