The road to cashless is probably more of an evolution than revolution

Living without cash might sound cool and futuristic to those who anticipate. Less fortunately, going cashless sounds a bit fast forward to some parts in Southeast Asia.

Even some big shops in main cities could not process payment by card for any purchase below US$12. Going through this kind of experience, we might need to bring our bag of coins and cash around for at least five years more. We are in the position which is still unready for the cashless revolution.

This thought came to mind when there are ride-hailing apps that accept payment via mobile. They kept the information on the mobile with tokenisation and thus we don’t need to insert the same details each time we ride.

Thus, the expectation could be high for malls or restaurants, because why not? Ride-hailing services came to the game later, so nothing is wrong with expecting more established stores to also have that kind of payment processor or at least able to process any payment with no minimum amount.

We could see some signboards like Alipay and Samsung Pay around these days. It is somehow restricted to certain people and places. When there are these kinds of payment modes, how much capacity should you have on your phone to spend at your favorite shops or random shops that you see around? You will not have time to download or register for that o-the-spot. These doubts again make us want to go back to cash so that we would not have to cancel the purchase, go to an ATM, put the items into the cart again and pay at the counter after an hour.

Knocked down by the reality, everyone has their own preferences when it comes to making payment. To youngsters, tap-and-go would be the easiest and fastest. To the middle-aged, inserting the card into the payment processor would be secure enough for a faster alternative. As for the more advanced generation, no need to say more — it is enough to have just cash and coins in their lives. There is no force to make them shift as they have lived with cash at least half of the century.

That is why many businesses start offering more payment options for customers. For example, this includes making cash-on-demand available to people who shop online but prefer to pay cash for online purchases — especially for youngsters and elders alike who are new to online shopping.

Add to this the the advanced and upgraded kind of POS terminal for a group of young adults that supports multiple channels of payment. As for physical shopping, one thing is for sure — establishments still accept cash, giving options to those who still need convincing to switch to cashless.

Also read: Grab is going to win the cashless battle

We can say that there is no inclusivity in payment. This means we can take the digital wallet approach slowly but surely. The most important thing is to make sure that payment processors and businesses do not set any limits or minimums to card and electronic . The payment technology that we have should be able to prepare us for the next big disruption in payment technologies.

We can still sense a slight dilemma about using electronic and online payment modes, not to mention mobile wallets.

One thing is for sure. Our lives now depend more and more on our digital devices, and there is growing dependence on such technologies. Perhaps it would be a good sign once we no longer keep our precious bills and coins in our leather purses but rather have tap-to-pay enabled mobile phones or devices in such leather cases for making payments.

—-

Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Featured Image: 123RF Stock Photography

 

The post Is Southeast Asia now more accepting of mobile wallets? appeared first on e27.