Mobile Payments: The Customer is King

by. Adam Green

I have read several articles on the bank/issuer centric approach to the mobile wallet. Sometimes I read what these analysts say and I hang my head in disappointment. Some say the mobile wallet will never be more than an idea; others say they disintermediate banks; and then there are those who say we are on the brink of something really great (I really dig it when they say this).

Take a moment and think about how you generally pay for “stuff” — that cup of coffee at the local shop, those awesome new shoes, the insanely expensive tank of gas and even that half-pint of Ben & Jerry’s. When you think about it, we buy a lot of “stuff.” So much so that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. consumers spent USD $9.672 trillion in fourth quarter 2012. As a country, that means we dug deep into our wallets.

During my sophomore year in college, my Accounting 101 professor (who rivaled Doc Brown from Back to the Future), shouted, “Cash is king!” from atop his desk as he stared fervently into the auditorium of students on the first day of class. I am not sure that is the case these days. If I were in his class today, I would shout back, “No, the customer is king!” The customer is king. Our industry spends countless hours and dollars studying customer preferences, behaviors and drivers, yet as practitioners we seldom keep our customer perspective when strategies are being developed.

So, keep your customer hat on for a second.

Pull out your wallet.

Do you see a bank logo on your wallet?

I’m guessing (and hoping) there’s not a bank logo on your wallet. If there is, you failed the litmus test and you can stop reading at this point. If there isn’t, there’s probably a good reason.

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