Growth of Contactless Payments in Southeast Asia

The world as we know it has changed forever with the onslaught of the COVID-19 virus. One of the biggest changes that have emerged from this pandemic situation globally is the need to avoid direct as well as indirect contact with people and maintain social distancing as much as possible. This is applicable for every activity we do including shopping and making payments.

 

What Change has This Caused in Consumer Behavior?

Consumers now prefer to shop online for all their needs as it poses fewer risks. The convenience of e-commerce shopping is more than the lure of stepping out of your home and shopping. This has led to a much higher numbers of contactless payments made through various payment gateway providers especially in Southeast Asia as well as other parts of the world. These payments are made through e-wallets and credit or debit cards that are contactless-enabled.

The current pandemic has accelerated consumers in Asia switching to modern payment methods using Southeast Asia online payment gateways. As a business owner of a large or small enterprise, you may be wondering if this behavior and trend will continue even after the pandemic dies down. Planning in advance and taking the necessary steps will help you be prepared and stay ahead of the competition once the economy reopens.

 

What Steps Can You Take for Your Business to Handle This Economic Shift?

The younger generation is generally tech-savvy and prefers to use e-wallets and newer payment methods that go through secure payment gateway providers for their online transactions. But with the COVID-19 condition prevailing, a consumer survey conducted shows that most consumers around the globe will switch completely to contactless payment methods during the course of this pandemic and stick with it thereafter once they realize the conveniences it offers. There has already been a significant growth of contactless payments in Southeast Asia observed over the last year.

Payments that require a consumer to type in a PIN or sign a receipt at the end of a transaction requires some amount of contact. Signing up with a Southeast Asia online payment gateway provider can help your business align with the practice of maintaining social distance. Having this service can boost your business in this rapidly evolving economy.

So, as a business merchant, you can certainly benefit from providing alternate payment methods to your customers by choosing the best payment gateway providers. Safety of data during transactions should be your top priority when choosing a service provider as there are always chances of fraud by hackers and thieves during the payment process.

 

Contactless Payment Growth 

Most card providers set a limit on the amount that can be used for purchases in a day. If a customer exceeds this limit, then further authentication may be requested which will need the physical presence of the customer. These limits may vary from card to card and even from one country to another.  But in the current scenario, these limits are being increased by companies like Mastercard and Visa to qualify people to make more purchases.

There are security risks associated with contactless payments. Increased transaction limits can lead to increased fraud. Steps must be taken by you as a business merchant to address these security risks and provide a safe payment platform for your customers.

The payment gateway providers should use encryption technology and tokenization to verify online purchases. There should also be a process set up to resolve chargebacks and dispute them if necessary. Consumers are also doing their part in protecting their dataduring contactless transaction by using biometrics for authentication.

So, go ahead and take measures for your business to accept contactless payments in Southeast Asia. This will ensure that your business will be able to meet consumer demand and expectations at any given time.