Digital Wallets: Crossing the Chasm Between Online and Offline Payments
2012/11/21
Despite increasing online-offline convergence in retailing, there is still a chasm between online and offline payments which today’s digital wallets are struggling to cross. It remains a challenge today to use secure element-based payment credentials online and cloud-based credentials at the physical POS, although various solutions to bridge the divide are emerging. The above statements form the central thesis of my new report to be published early next week under the same title as this blog post. With my report, I sought to address the following key questions:
- Given the proliferation of solutions, how to differentiate between various digital wallets in the market today? How best to think about the solutions, economics and implications for various players?
- Is there any consensus in the market on what is important in order to succeed? What are some of the big unknowns which could significantly influence the market? What are some of the key challenges that the industry as a whole needs to address?
- How should financial institutions respond to these market developments?