Better payments benefit everyone in the value chain. Meeting customer expectations for seamless CX is important now – but will be a non-negotiable for successful brands in 2023 and beyond…
In the past brands were constrained by what they could practically offer customers. Now the internet, mobile, cloud and financial technology have combined to open up a new wave of possibilities for companies to serve customers better.
First and foremost in the delivery of the ultimate in CX is embedded finance – and it’s not just end-users who benefit.
“Demand [for embedded finance] will grow because the ‘better together’ proposition promises to improve customer experiences and financial access, along with providing cost reductions and risk benefits to companies.”
Bain
The convenience of embedded finance – in particular, embedded payments – is invaluable to customers. Instead of having to find their wallet or credit card, a customer can just tap a few buttons and the purchase is complete.
A smoother buying journey means less shopping cart abandonment and customer dissatisfaction, resulting in a win for businesses via increased revenue and customer loyalty.
The ultimate goal of embedded finance is to make it easier for consumers to access financial services in a seamless and convenient way. For example, a brand might offer its customers the option to pay for their purchases using a digital wallet or a mobile payment app, or a technology platform might offer its users access to financial tools such as budgeting and investment tracking.
“Embedded finance is the new ‘norm’ in banking.”
Finance Digest
Changing demographics and behaviour, increasing internet penetration, technological advances and growing trust in the digital ecosystem is helping make embedded finance the norm among consumers.
New research reveals the size of the embedded finance market was $43 billion in 2021, with growth set to skyrocket that to $138 billion by 2026.
215%
The CAGR of the embedded finance market from 2021 to 2026.
It’s not just the B2C market that’s seeing this transformation, though. KPMG flags the B2B embedded finance sector as being on the move, in order to “facilitate trade flows and supply chain efficiency”.
Long after B2C moved online, B2C transactions are finally digitising at speed. Over half of business buyers already rely on web stores for frequent purchases, so it’s safe to say that there is set to be a high increase in merchants and marketplaces offering these seamless options alongside more traditional payment methods like credit cards and Direct Debit.
When a brand embeds financial services into its own products, the key benefits are three-fold:
2022 saw embedded finance move into the mainstream. While 2023 is predicted by many to be the year it moves into the spotlight to power consumer-facing applications, it has already revolutionised core payments operations.
How? In short: more revenue, less churn. By embedding payments, businesses of all sizes can provide seamless cashflow. And as a potential recession looms, this type of ‘bread and butter’ embedded finance use case is expected to see huge uptake. After all, dramatically improving the efficiency of back-end processes will deliver significant savings and productivity benefits for fintechs and brands – which is more important than ever right now.
Businesses ranging from retailers and travel to software companies are working to tailor their payment services for increased accessibility. As a result, embedded finance will become firmly interwoven into more industries, acknowledging e-commerce as the driving force in business growth and revenue streams.
The next step in payment innovation also lends itself to the metaverse, and how the digital world can help shape the way financial services offer their products.
Read more:
Why Everyone From Fintech to Retail is Banking on the Metaverse
The more immediate future is likely to see the rise of embedded finance within the world of social media. Many platforms have shown an interest in plugging in their own payment services to embed a seamless end-to-end experience, something which Instagram has trialled with its ‘Shop’ function.
Elon Musk has also recently filed papers to the US Treasury for Twitter to become a financial service.
Embedded finance is not just for the Twitters of the world, however – businesses of any size can benefit from seamless payment functionality.
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