“Invisible payment” tech to skyrocket to $99 billion in transactions by 2022

The volume of global transactions processed by “invisible payment” technologies is set to soar to $US78 billion ($99 billion) by 2022, according to a new study from Juniper Research.

Designed to create a more seamless in-store shopping experience, and bypassing the need for a checkout, these technologies are expected to account for US$9.8 billion in transactions this year, the study found, as omnichannel strategies move into bricks-and-mortar retail stores.

Amazon describes Amazon Go as providing a “Just Walk Out Shopping experience”. Consumers use the Amazon Go app to enter a store, with the technology automatically tracking which products are taken or returned to shelves, and the total charged to the shopper’s account when they leave.

While deployments of invisible payment technology are currently in single figures, Juniper expects they will reach over 5000 retail outlets in the next five years. However, the cost and complexity of integration will constrain deployments in the short term.

In the same period, the number of consumers using checkout apps to scan their own shopping is forecast to grow from just under four million to more than 30 million.

Juniper’s Future In-store Retail Technologies: Adoption, Implementation & Strategy 2017-2022 report found checkout apps and automatic scanning will initially make up the majority of revenue from new retail technologies, accounting for an average increase in revenue of over $US300 per shopper per year by 2022.

According to the research, new technologies are seeing the role of retail staff transformed from cashier to advisor, delivering a more personalised service.

“Retail technologies are all moving to make in-store retail more experience-focused,” research author James Moar commented.

“This is ideal for online-first retailers, as the store functions as an advert for an existing business. Offline-first retailers need to both have more personalised experiences and maintain the same transaction volume; a far harder task.”

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