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June 24, 2020
Mastercard Research Shows Surge in Digital Payments as E-commerce Reaches New Heights Around the World.
Study shows consumers worldwide opting for touch-free, secure, and seamless ways to pay.
PURCHASE, NY | JUNE 23, 2020 — The way we shop is changing. With constraints imposed on our daily lives due to COVID-19, consumers are adopting new payment habits at an accelerated pace, according to a global study by Mastercard conducted in 15 markets. Consumers are increasingly moving away from cash and opting for contact-free and digital payment experiences - and they don’t expect to go back. E-commerce is also seeing a surge, with Mastercard SpendingPulse reporting record growth rates across the globe as consumers increasingly shop online.
As our payment behaviors evolve, two notable trends emerge in the Mastercard research:
• A massive move away from cash is coming. Globally, almost seven in 10 consumers say the shift to digital payments will likely be permanent, and nearly half of consumers plan to use limited cash, even after the pandemic subsides, according to a Mastercard weekly survey launched April 27.
Since the pandemic began, nearly half (46%) of respondents in the Asia-Pacific say they are using the cash, less often. In contrast, two-thirds of Latin American consumers say they are using paper money less or not at all. In Europe, which already had the most significant adoption of contactless payments of any region, 64 percent say tap and pay is now their preferred way to pay in-store.
• A steep increase in e-commerce: As highlighted in Mastercard’s newly released Recovery Insights: Shift to Digital report, e-commerce has reached new heights.
Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures retail sales across all payment types, including cash and check, shows that United States e-commerce spending grew by 93 percent year-over-year in May. And in April and May, e-commerce as a share of total retail sales reached 33% in the United Kingdom - an unprecedented high (ex. auto, petrol, and restaurants).
“No one could have predicted the state of the world we’re in today. It has reinforced the necessity for us to continue evolving the consumer payment experience to meet the consumer wherever they are,” said Jorn Lambert, Executive Vice President, Digital Solutions. “We focused on building our Digital-First capabilities that have enabled this accelerated shift to digital payments. It is unlikely that consumers will revert to old payment habits.”
“Amidst an incredibly challenging time for individuals, for communities and businesses, we’re seeing sparks of change brought upon by the growth of digitally-savvy consumers and businesses embracing technology that will enable a swifter, more secure future,” Lambert added.
Building the Foundation for the Future of Payments
From a simplified online checkout experience to an in-store tap on a contactless terminal, Mastercard is leveraging its insights and technology, forging critical partnerships, and driving innovation to ensure a solid foundation to deliver the future of payments.
• Using non-sensitive data to enhance security: Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) turns card numbers into tokens that become useless to fraudsters and eliminates the frustration of manually updating your card information. MDES is live with more than 2,600 issuers and 1,200 token requestors. Mastercard is rapidly adding global players from across the ecosystem, including Adyen, Braintree, a PayPal Service, Etsy, Mercado Libre/Mercado Pago, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MPGS), PayPal, Stripe, Thales, T-Mobile, and Checkout to deliver this security at scale.
• One-click payments to speed checkout: Click to Pay, Mastercard’s one-click checkout experience, uses tokenization to secure your card credentials, and makes passwords a thing of the past. Enrollment is being made simple for consumers, including Citi’s tens of millions of cardholders in the United States who can now push their card credentials from their mobile banking app to merchants and Click to Pay. More than 10,000 merchants have been enabled for Click to Pay, including Crate & Barrel, Expedia, Fresh Direct, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Technology partners such as MPGS are essential to allowing acceptance for merchants, and Mastercard is also working closely with ACI Worldwide, Aurus, Global Payments, and Square.
• Digital First powers consumer choice: Even before the pandemic, mobile devices have been Mastercard’s primary source of communication, information, and, increasingly, commerce. Instead of merely supporting physical cards with digital experiences, Mastercard has focused on designing digital products from the ground up, with the physical card optional. This summer, it partners with Samsung and SoFi to deliver a Digital First debit card backed by a cash management account called Samsung Money by SoFi. We have also launched Digital First programs with Falabella in Latin America, GrabPay in Singapore and the Philippines, Mox by Standard Chartered and WeLab Bank in Hong Kong, and cooperative banks in Germany, Mastercard elaborated.
Mastercard conducted its proprietary Study between April 27-May 17, 2020 among adults 18+. It conducted Six thousand seven hundred fifty interviews across 15 countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and The United States of America.
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Its mission is to “connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible.” Mastercard says its innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realize their highest potential.
Source: Mastercard
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 2:12 PM | View the original post
Reuters Launches a Dedicated Audio and Voice Service, enabling its Customers to Expand and Engage their Audiences.
LONDON, June 24, 2020 — Reuters, the world’s largest multimedia news provider, has launched a market-leading service designed specifically for the audio and voice sector.
Two new products - Reuters Audio and Reuters Ready Audio - give customers access to a global collection of rights-cleared real-time and archive audio clips, as well as ready-to-publish audio stories.
• With nearly half a million archive clips dating back to the early 1900s available, Reuters Audio customers have access to more than a century’s worth of news coverage at their fingertips, to add depth and dimension to their audio production, Reuters said.
• Reuters Ready Audio provides a curated daily package of global news stories, voiced by Reuters journalists worldwide in a ready-to-publish offering.
Both are available from today via a new user experience on Reuters Connect, a comprehensive digital platform powering the news ecosystem.
The development comes as the audio market continues to grow, with consumers listening more than ever, driving high-quality audio content.
Recent research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University found:
- Nearly 20% of the most popular podcasts were in the news category.
- There has been a 32% rise in the number of news podcasts in 2019.
- 54% of US and 41% UK adults 18-25 listened to a podcast monthly, and 62% use their smart speakers for news.
Reuters Audio and Reuters Ready Audio allow customers to enhance their existing audio productions instantly and spontaneously create brand-new audio experiences.
Nick Cohen, Global Head of Product, Core News Services, Reuters, said: “As demand for audio content continues to grow, podcasters, radio producers and platforms need an easy-to-access destination for high-quality material. With this new audio experience and a Reuters archive that goes back over a century, producers and publishers can now get instant access to hundreds of thousands of clips, whether they are looking for historical moments or the latest breaking news.”
Founded in 1851, Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider. With coverage in over 16 languages, it reaches millions of people worldwide every day. Reuters supplies business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world’s media organizations, and industry events.
Source: Reuters
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 4:50 AM | View the original post
