Apple Pay has become a go-to tech upgrade for companies and individuals looking to streamline their point of purchase interactions. With (almost) everyone carrying a smartphone these days, mobile pay is the next step in “what everyone will be doing soon.”
Believe it or not Millennials, there was a time when paying with “plastic” was unheard of. In the early days of credit – and then debit – cards, most people still opted to pay cash. They distrusted plastic for a variety of reasons. In the past four decades, the early adoption of new technology has increased its rate. People start doing things sooner, and practices become more widespread faster.
With the advent of Apple Pay, it was clear that ATMs would soon become as obsolete as pay phones. Now, with Google entering the marketplace, the odds of that eventuality just increased exponentially.
In action, Google Pay is said to work pretty much the same way Apple Pay does. Tap your phone to pay. The transaction is logged and completed using a saved bank account. No cards or cash necessary. How popular is this option? Market watchers believe the market is worth upwards of one trillion dollars. Yes, with a “t”.
To sweeten the pot in order to entice users to make the switch from plastic to “pay phones” Google allows users to connect credit cards. This allows users to keep their points, incentives, loyalty cards and other credit-card-based rewards. Now they can rack up air miles or travel miles or loyalty points and leave their cards at home. Remember that old American Express slogan, “don’t leave home without it?” Yeah, obsolete.
Well … not quite.
The other shoe that needs to drop to fully unlock this trillion dollar market belongs to the retailers. Currently, many retailers such as Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, and restaurants such as Subway accept Google Pay, and more are coming. But that’s not nearly as universal as those little stickers on windows and pay machines letting customers know their MasterCard or Visa are welcome methods of payment.
That will come, though. With a trillion dollars in the balance, you can bet both Google and Apple are working overtime to get buy-ins from both consumers and businesses. Soon, consumers can experience the same annoyance when they don’t see a “Google Pay” sign as they do when they pull out their credit card only to find a “cash only” sign at the register.
5WPR CEO Ronn Torossian, is a lifelong New Yorker. A top PR Executive who runs 5WPR based in NY, Torossian is a results driven business leader. 5W has recently opened a Denver office, and has offices in LA and NYC.
