Online Payment trends for 2023 that are shaping the future of e-commerce

Online business in India is becoming more competitive. According to NITI Ayog, the digital payments market in India is expected to grow to USD one trillion by 2023. It has become essential for e-commerce business owners to keep abreast with the latest industry developments, particularly in technology. With the digital transformation, the e-commerce landscape needs to amp up online payment methods for customers and ensure an expected level of convenience, ease of use, and security. As per the survey, unduly slow checkout processes contribute to high cart abandonment rates. Cashfree Payments offers maximum e-payment methods for hassle-free and instant online payments.

Let's know the five online payment trends for 2023 that will shape the future of e-commerce:

1. SoftPOS- SoftPOS (Software Point of Sale) is the perfect software-based solution for merchants looking to enhance the online payment experience for customers. Cashfree Payments offers a solution where business agents can use their smartphones as digital POS machines instead of carrying a physical POS machine. SoftPOS solution can be used in online and offline stores, E-commerce marketplaces, NBFC platforms, food delivery platforms, hyper-local delivery platforms with multiple delivery agents, and other platforms. The customers can tap their contactless card onto the merchant's smartphone and make the payments. The software also allows businesses to accept payments by generating unique UPI QR codes on smartphones or sending payment links over WhatsApp or SMS. One unique feature of this payment method is that businesses can accept payments through multiple business agents and centrally monitor all transactions.
2. EMI/Pay later - Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is the emerging trend in the E-commerce startup space. It allows consumers to make purchases and opt to pay at a later date in one or more installments. E-commerce businesses have enormous potential to expand or retain their customer base by offering such payment options. Cashfree Payments' new BNPL suite provides the broadest pay-later partner network through a simple, one-time integration. Merchants can offer various pay-later options to the consumers, for example-debit card EMI, credit card EMI, BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later), No-cost EMI, and cardless EMI. In short, merchants fund their customers under this financing option to increase product sales, especially bigger ticket items.
3. Prepaid cards and wallets - In 2023, businesses can launch their cards and offer them to their consumers, employees, and partners for royalty and rewards, payroll, expense management, and more. These cards may not necessarily be physical. They can be virtual cards, wallets, or wearables. Cashfree Payments introduced a card issuance solution that fits the needs of the Fintech, logistics platform, E-commerce, and high-growth businesses. One of the growing use cases of prepaid cards and e-wallets is to enable incentive payouts on cards instead of direct transfers to bank accounts. This allows businesses to earn interchange revenue with the spending on the card.
4. Payment Links - Payment Links by Cashfree are the easiest way to accept payments from customers for the business. This payment method works without taking the customers to any app or website. Now, D2C brands, the travel sector, the hospitality sector, the education sector, utility products or service providers, and other businesses that do business using social media platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, etc., don't need a website to get paid anymore. Merchants can share the Payment Link with the customer via different channels like SMS, WhatsApp, email, etc.; upon clicking the link, customers can pay using all available payment methods. Once the payment is made using the link, the merchant will receive a notification. This payment-receiving feature also allows businesses to set the expiry for the link, enable partial payments, or send Payment Links in bulk.
5. Custom Payment Forms-Businesses can collect payments from multiple customers using the Payment Form without integration or coding. A Payment Form is a web page that can be customised to fit business needs. One can add products, and descriptions, insert product images, set an amount, add custom input fields to collect information and do much more to show off the brand's personality. The payments can be collected in minutes by sharing the form URL with customers on SMS, email, and other messaging apps or by embedding it on the website/app.

E-Payments are the future of India. In the coming years, we will see a revolution in digital payment methods. Most of the mentioned trends will play a significant role in e-commerce. Millennials and Gen Z are using more and more cashless payment methods, and businesses have an excellent opportunity to tap this customer segment through trending payment options. E-commerce businesses must determine which payment method best works for the company's growth. The more payment facilities available to the customers, the higher the convenience and ease of use which will ultimately help increase the sales and conversion rate.