The Demanding Consumer: Payments Expectations Rising Fast, Adyen Survey Shows

In-store shopping isn’t going anywhere. That’s the finding of a survey from online processor Adyen. That’s especially true for pre- and post-purchase needs. And it’s just one sign of how much more demanding consumers are becoming when it comes to payments and related transactions.

Eighty-six percent of consumers want to go to a store to manage exchanges or returns of items they purchased online, says Adyen, which is based in Amsterdam and maintains a U.S. office in San Francisco. The survey, conducted by Morar Consulting, canvassed 2,000 adults.

As for payments, 71% want to order online but collect their purchases in the store; 74% want a self-service checkout kiosk; 42% want to buy in the aisle, without queueing in a line; and 36% want to pay with a mobile wallet.

Consumer expectations for retail payments in five years are more demanding. Seventy-seven percent expect retailers to offer mobile-payment acceptance, and 67% expect to make wearable-device payments. Automatic payments, where the customer can walk out of the store and her credit card is automatically charged, is forecasted by 54%. Forty percent expect biometric payments availability, though 38% say they never want it, Adyen says.

The implications of this for payments companies are manifold, Roelant Prins, Adyen chief commercial officer, tells Digital Transactions News via email.

“The study makes very clear that shoppers expect their interactions with retailers to seamlessly move from digital to physical stores and back all the time, whenever and however they prefer,” Prins says. “From a payment point of view, this means enabling a refund in-store for an online purchase. It means enabling a mobile payment experience in-store for a shopper that wants a personal checkout experience. It means storing payment details from an in-store purchase for seamless one-click future transactions in a mobile app.”

That one-click nature extends to payments-related features, too. Fifty-four percent want their loyalty identification data automatically tied to their payment card, even when shopping in the store.

Not offering what Adyen calls unified commerce has a downside. Long lines caused 80% of shoppers to leave a store and 73% of lost sales happen when a consumer abandons the checkout line.

The survey also asked about chatbots, a technology programmed to react to human inputs—typed messages or voice commands—and react fast with information or advice. Many companies, such as Facebook Inc., have enabled payments within bots. Only 26% of consumers say they are willing to make a purchase from a messaging app. Most—61%—are waiting until they better understand the need or benefit of doing so.