Tag: mobile payments

As the Modi government forces a more cashless society, consumers have skipped plastic in favor of apps.

In India, Prime Minister Modi’s government suddenly eliminated two of the most commonly used monetary notes, providing a huge opportunity for the MobiKwik mobile wallet. As the country scrambles to ensure they have enough cash in their hands, mobile payments have become a fast alternative.

As a result, MobileKwik saw a sudden rush of new users, totaling 2 million in under 2 days.

The MobiKwik mobile wallet was already the largest in India. It saw the opportunity and rapidly launched a lighter version of its app, called the MobiKwik Lite. When it launched, it experienced more than 2 million downloads in less than the first two days. This trend is only expected to continue – though perhaps not as dramatically – as the nation continues its direction toward being cashless.

Without the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, people rapidly looked to their smartphones to make sure they would have enough money to be able to make payments. The new MobiKwik Lite mobile app was designed to ensure that even the most basic smartphones and limited data connections would support it.

MobiKwik mobile wallet is determined to keep up with demand as more consumers download and sign on.

“We are committed to support the Government of India`s mission of a clean, cashless economy and launched MobiKwik Lite with an objective to help masses across the country go cashless,” said Upasana Taku, one of MobiKwik’s co-founders. Taku went on to say that “So far, we have registered over 20 lakh users and the number is growing significantly by the hour.” Taku pointed out that this high rate of new user sign-ups is a direct illustration that a product that is well timed and designed “resolves a real issue,” and will become a mainstream hit.

This mobile app, which is available in Hindi and English, also makes it possible for users to receive payment requests and send funds by way of SMS. This new lighter version of the MobiKwik mobile wallet is offering all users free bank transfers until March 31, 2017.

Of all the online orders processed by the payment platform, one third were transacted over mobile.

According to new PayPal mobile commerce data, one third of online purchases on Thanksgiving and Black Friday using that payment method were from smartphones or tablets.

Mobile devices made up one third of the total payment volume over PayPal on those two days.

These PayPal mobile commerce statistics also help to illustrate the importance of that payment platform to e-commerce as a whole. It is clear that consumers are using this transaction method on an increasing basis to complete their online purchases. When it comes to some of the top shopping days of the year such as Thanksgiving and Black Friday, that can make a significant impact on retailers’ bottom lines.

The recent data suggesting that one third of PayPal payments for online purchases on those two days only underscores reports from other sources. Data analyses from other firms also suggest a similar trend where mobile accounted for about a third of Black Friday online spending.

The PayPal mobile commerce figures align very closely with the data from Adobe regarding Black Friday.

Adobe’s data pointed out that online sales during that one shopping day broke the $3 billion mark. It also pointed out that mobile devices accounted for just over a billion of those transactions.

The new figures from PayPal only add more weight to the confirmation of that trend. This also helps to provide insight into a larger part of the market, as its data adds to that from other payment methods.

PayPal currently has more than 192 million active customers as well as 15 million active merchants.

The shopping trend for both Thanksgiving Day as well as Black Friday revealed that about one third of its online purchases were through PayPal mobile commerce. This helps to show that it was not just a single day blip but that it may be a consistent trend in online shopping. This was particularly true as the total payment volume was not the same on both days. Still, the percentage of mobile shopping remained steady despite the difference in total spending.