What We’re Reading: Forrester Report: Mobile Payments in 2017

Last week we blogged about the mobile payments arena in 2013, and shortly after, market research firm Forrester released their predictions for the United States mobile payments market. Currently, there are more smartphones in use in the United States than there are people, which further solidifies that mobile payments are becoming an integral part of business and consumers’ lives. Below are a few articles that highlight poignant statistics from the Forrester report. Have you seen any statistics useful to small businesses that you’d like to share? Tweet them to @IPNTeam.

Forrester: U.S. Mobile Payments Market Predicted To Reach $90B By 2017, Up From $12.8B In 2012
TechCrunch: article by Darrell Etherington

Here’s what the projected numbers look like. Forrester forecasts that US mobile payments will reach $90 billion in 2017, which represents a 48% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from the $12.8 billion spent last year… Among the highlights from the “US Mobile Payments Forecast, 2013 to 2017” are:

• Mobile payments adoption will be fueled by unprecedented growth in proximity payments.
• Despite growth in P2P payments, mobile remittances will lag behind.
• Consumers adopt mobile payments when it’s clearly better than the next best alternative.

Read more

Forrester: US Mobile Payments to Reach $90 Billion in 2017
Mobile Marketing Watch: article by Mobile Marketing Watch contributor

The key to future growth for mobile payments will be convincing consumers that it is a much better alternative to the prevailing payment method, Forrester says. Highlighting convenience, security, and improved user experience are what will convince users to come on board, but it’ll require that there are clear and present advantages in each area in order to spur a mass movement towards mobile payment options. I’d argue that every year of the last two or three has seemed at the outset like the one where mobile payments could really take off and become mainstream. Consumer interest is growing, and initiatives like ISIS and Google Wallet are actually launching and usable in real-world locations, so there’s every reason to believe that we’re on our way to that $90 billion mark, even if it will be hard to point to any one year as the year mobile payments finally arrived or hit the mainstream.

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What We’re Reading: Mobile Payments: Full Steam Ahead in 2013

Moving into the New Year, many small business owners may find themselves wondering what’s in store for the mobile payments arena. Whether you’re planning to enter the mobile payment landscape for the first time or expand your current setup, one thing is certain – now that customers expect it, mobile payments are here to stay. Below are a few articles to enlighten you on what’s ahead in 2013. Have you read any mobile trend stories recently? Tweet them to @IPNTeam.

Expect Mobile Payments to Have a Breakout Year
American Banker: article by Jason Oxman
Simply put, the common enemy of electronic payments is cash, and so any technology that makes it more convenient and more rewarding to use a credit or debit account is good for business. And through loyalty, discounts, location-based offers and much more, mobile payments hold great promise to make cash ever less attractive for consumers. There is widespread agreement that mobile payments will take an increasing percentage of credit and debit card payments. This is not surprising given Americans’ love affair with their mobile phones – there are more mobile phones in service in the U.S. (approximately 320 million in 2012, according to CTIA’s Semi-Annual wireless survey) than there are people.

Read more

Top 5 predictions for mobile payments in 2013|
Luxury Daily: article by Bob Gold
Mobile transactions have been dominated by micro-payment transactions for digital goods. But with the death of premium SMS and the non-carrier commerce world getting into the game, we will see (1) the average mobile transaction size increase due to mobile payments having a more balanced mix of digital, services, and physical goods and (2) U.S. wireless carriers, like many of their brethren internationally, will begin to accept certain “service” payments such as train, bus, and taxi. The carriers need this type of higher margin revenue to pay for their massive infrastructure costs for 4G/LTE.

Read more

Ditch the Clutter with Intuit’s New App: PaperTrail

Keeping your business organized can be a stressful task as you are managing everything from accounting to payroll to marketing. PaperTrail, a new iOS app from Intuit, helps you ditch the messy pile of papers, and stay organized for tax time. With the FREE app, you can take pictures of business receipts and track miles traveled with all records in one (paperless) place. Using an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, with just a few taps, you can have the following assets at your fingertips:

Receipt Capture
•Capture and store paper receipts by taking a picture from your phone
•Add notes to receipts to remember important transactions

Mileage Tracking
•Track miles driven for business purposes
•Easily calculate your tax deductions
•Save starting and ending odometer readings for tax purposes

Other
•Come tax time, you can email tracked business receipts & miles to your accountant to maximize deductions
•Store everything on iCloud for safe keeping

Want to see more? Here’s a quick demo of the app in action.

Download the free app at:
http://bit.ly/YnRATP

What We’re Reading: Snap Payroll and Small Business Loans

Here are two more interesting articles that we hope will provide you with more insight into the world of small business trends, payments, mobile tips and more. Let us know what you think (or anything we should add!) by leaving us a comment, or Tweet at us @IPNTeam. Happy reading!

Snap Payroll app helps small businesses calculate employee pay Los Angeles Times

An Apple iOS app called Snap Payroll that’s designed to help small businesses figure out their employees’ paychecks recently launched. The free app from Intuit Inc.is supposed to help small-business owners calculate the correct amount of pay they owe their employees after including any federal and state taxes as well as overtime hours. Read more

Getting a Small Business Loan When the Bank Says No The Street

One of the greatest barriers in the search for business capital on Main Street is the labor-intensive underwriting process used by banks. Similar to the mortgage process, getting a business loan from a bank — if by some miracle you are approved — takes weeks or more from application submission to closing. For small businesses, the waiting game can put a crimp on operations. Read more

What We’re Reading: Strategies to Get Paid, Mobile Marketing, Mobile POS, and More (Part II)

Welcome to the second week of our new “What We’re Reading” series. We’re sharing the most interesting articles we’ve read in a new weekly blog round-up of stories. We hope these provide insight into the world of small business trends, payments, mobile tips and more. Let us know what you think (or anything we should add!) by leaving us a comment, or Tweet at us @IPNTeam. We will post two more articles next week, so be sure to check back!

Entice Mobile Users to Open Your Emails: 3 Tips Inc. Magazine

If you’re using email marketing to keep in touch with customers and prospects, you probably spend a lot of time coming up with that perfect subject line to get as many people as possible to open your emails. You probably also spend a lot of time trying to whittle the subject line down to around 50 characters, which is typically all that can fit in an email client’s window before it gets cut off. Here’s a little secret: You can say more in the pre-header of your email. Read more

Mobile POS and the end of waiting in line Mobile Payments Today

The store of the future will not feature long check-out lines or any lines for that matter, according to retail experts and a recent survey from CompTIA predicting that traditional point-of-sale solutions will soon look archaic. Although only 13 percent of retailers polled said they’re currently testing a mobile POS, another 19 percent said they will begin tests in the next 12 months. And that number will steadily climb over the next few years. Read more

Money See, MoneyDue – Introducing New iOS App!

MoneyDue is the new free app that can help you turn your business appointments into payments! The new Intuit PaymentNetwork app uses the calendar feature on your iPhone or iPod Touch to convert calendar appointments into payment reminders. You can also keep track of the payments you are owed and the payments you’ve received through individual calendar appointments.

Here’s a quick demo of how easy the app is to use. Download the app for free on iTunes today!

New! Mobile Payments + Custom Branding

Your customers can now pay from their smart phones

You can now create your own QR payment code. Your customers can then use this code to pay you from their mobile phones. ITS THAT EASY!

Steps for small businesses:

1) Log in to IPN and click on ‘Enable Mobile Payments’ on the left

2) A QR code will be generated that you can use by:

a) Printing on ‘Event Fliers’, ‘Marketing Banners’ or a fliers that you can paste at your retail store

b) Copying and pasting it on your printed invoices, emails, etc

Steps for your customer:

1) Download a QR Code reader on their Android or iPhone (if they do not have one already)

2) Scan your image to pay you

Extending branding capabilities to ‘eCommerce’ and ‘Payment Request’ flows + More Colors

You can now apply ‘Your’ small business brand across pay link, eCommerce and ‘Payment Request’ flows. Just click on the ‘Branding Customization’ button on the left to use this feature.

Also, you now have more colors to choose from to match your website or business style. Here is an example of what your customers will see after you customize it:

Enjoy and please provide feedback. These requirements were built on feedback we received from you.

- Your IPN team