Accelerated Shift Towards Online Shopping
Data from IBM’s U.S. Retail Index shows that the COVID-19 crisis accelerated the shift away from brick-and-mortar stores to online shopping by about five years. Another survey shows that 62% of consumers around the world shop for products online more now than before the coronavirus pandemic.
With millions of people being forced to isolate and stay at home to contain the virus, consumers have turned to e-commerce platforms to purchase essential items. For retailers that had to adopt or ramp up online purchasing, payment processing solutions quickly became a must-have in their business infrastructure.
Retailers have had to embrace omnichannel fulfillment and quickly adjust their strategies in order to survive in the new business environment. According to Angelo Mendola, President and Chief Operating Officer of Priority Payment Systems Local, a new shift in the online sales space has been within the restaurant industry.
“Due to the restaurant industry being one of the industries that has been hit the hardest, restauranters have had to get creative. Since they can’t fill all their seats, some are now moving toward selling products online such as wine and meal delivery kits, as they should be,” he said. “Prior to COVID-19, very few restaurants embraced this opportunity but now, more and more are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their doors open,” Mendola added.<br>
Read the full article: How COVID-19 Has Impacted the E-Commerce Industry
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On December 24 writer Ernest Hamilton included our credit card processing company in his article on the impact COVID has played on payment solutions creating a fintech gap.
In some cases, however, the COVID pandemic has increased the need for digital payment solutions, like MXTM QuickBooks Sync, because online payments allows for greater social distancing.
“Manually tracking sales data can become an accounting nightmare,” Angelo Mendola, COO of Priority Payments Local, explained. “With MXTM QuickBooks Sync, merchants can synchronize financial data from the MXTM Merchant payment platform to Intuit’s QuickBooks Online tool.”
This is an example of filling FinTech gaps ushered in by COVID, and the COVID guidelines and restrictions enacted by state and federal governments.
Contactless payments are essential during the pandemic as well. The need for contactless payments within food delivery and pickup is another major gap that has been a focus for payment solutions companies, according to an Accenture study.
Read the article: Impact of COVID on Payment Solutions Creates FinTech Gap
[Read part one: Priority Payments Local 2020 Press Features]