If you're a Millennial, you may have noticed yourself using your credit cards less and less… and you aren't opting for cash either. So many businesses (namely big coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts) now allow you to pay via your smartphone… and the trend is only growing.
I read an article in Business Insider that recently discussed all the ways in which credit cards are poised to go extinct in the coming years. See if you agree…
Smartphones are responsible for replacing many of the same functions as credit cards. Mobile wallets are popping up with such things as Apple Pay, Android Pay, Google Pay, Chase Pay, and even walmart Pay. While you may think that this will make payments less secure, the opposite is actually true: it's very hard for thieves to steal banking information when it is all stored and encrypted on your phone.
As consumers move more purchasing online, gateway vendors that can act as a front-end processor for online businesses are seeing explosive growth. PayPal-owned Braintree grew 111% YoY in the number of cards on file in Q4 2015, while Stripe and Klarna now have multi-billion dollar valuations.
Mobile Point-Of-Sale (mPOS) startups like Square and ShopKeep have pioneered a whole new payments niche—accepting payments via tablets and smartphones. Coupling their transactions capabilities with new apps can revolutionize a small business' inventory management, marketing, loyalty and even payroll.
Mobile Peer-to-Peer payments in the U.S. are forecast to grow from $5.6 billion in 2014 to nearly $175 billion by 2019 as consumers increasingly skip the hassle of writing a check or going to an ATM. But smartphone vendors like Apple could cripple the dominant player of 2016 (Venmo) if they make a serious push to own the space. I can attest that Venmo is a fantastic app to pay your friends and family immediately without cash.
