July 2019 - 42

Consumer Trends
Going
Mobile?
Today's consumers want convenience
when it comes to paying for their purchases.
Here's a look at why garden centers might want
to consider using mobile app payment apps.
By Keith Loria
I
t used to be that " cash was king, " but many consumers today - especially
millennials - rarely carry paper money, and even the idea of using credit cards
is an archaic concept to some. In the 21st century world that we live in, mobile
payment apps are the way more and more people prefer to pay for things.
In fact, a recent study by Javelin projected the number of mobile payments would
increase to 410.5 billion by 2020.
After all, " the mobile wallet " is more convenient, charges less fees than credit
cards and takes seconds to process. Security on these apps is also very strong.
And they are simple to use. All one needs to do is download a free app, upload the
numbers of their major credit and debit cards and " tap to pay " with a phone at any
retailer who accepts the service.
" These days, we want to be able to pay when, where and how we want, and mobile
phones are making that happen, " says Zahir Khoja, senior vice president of global
acceptance at Mastercard, which has started to roll out its own mobile payment app.
" They have become an essential, ever-present part of our daily life.
According to eMarketer, American adults were expected to spend an average of
3 hours and 35 minutes a day on their mobile device, and many of us are choosing
the convenience, simplicity and speed of paying with our digital wallets.
Many cities are even turning to mobile payments for transit, making " tap and
go " second nature to millions, who are coming to expect the same simple payment
experience wherever they pay.
Still, many small retailers in the U.S. have been slow to embrace the technology.
" Every retailer wants his or her customer to leave happy and look forward to
shopping there again - and for specialty store owners who want to thrive in the face
42 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | JULY 2019
of growing online competition, giving customers a quick and safe way to pay is one
way to stay competitive, " Khoja says. " Millennials are also much more likely to use
mobile payments, and as their buying power grows, so will the need for retailers to
give them the flexibility they seek. "
Acrylic Tank Manufacturing, Las Vegas, Nevada, does tours of hundreds of guests
a day who travel from all around the world to see ATM (the home of the TV show
Tanked) and have a very active store selling different types of products including
T-shirts, memorabilia and more.
" Mobile payments are especially important for us as we are still a small business,
but have international visitors and customers, and many of them are used to using
mobile payment apps in their countries, " says Victor Jackson, retail manager for
the store. " We have found more and more people choose to pay this way, and I feel
people are more likely to buy an impulse item because it's so easy. "
Alex Tran, a digital marketing strategist at Hollingsworth, a Dearborn, Michigan-based
supply chain company, works with more than 300 vendors that use various payment
software and apps to process their transactions. He notes that mobile payment apps
have revolutionized how people buy and sell items since it first took off in 2010.
" Mobile payment options increase sales, and there are numerous studies showing
this, and it is technology that is only growing, " he says. " The pros for a retailer are
there is less cash to handle and thus less money lost if your store were to get robbed
or if you lose your cash somehow. Plus, it's convenient and you are receiving sales
that would have been lost had you only accepted cash. "
How it Works
The most popular mobile payment apps are Apple Pay, Google Pay (formerly
Android Pay), Square and Samsung Pay. Then there's PayPal, which acquired Venmo
six years ago, and last year alone saw more than $50 billion in transactions from the
app. That one though, is more about peer-to-peer money sharing, though it does
work at some stores as well.
Tran explains that these all work similarly. Mobile payments are processed on the
phone or a tablet and the app is usually used with a credit card swiper.
" Nowadays, consumers can use NFC, a picture can be taken of a credit card, or
the seller can manually enter the card details into the app, " he says. " A retailer
July 2019

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