In its recent announcement to demonitise old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, the government has given a huge push to digital transactions. Accepting digital payments is the easiest way to grapple with the cash crunch in your brick and mortar store. The world will go cashless and India will move quite rapidly to a digital payments economy, said billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates while our very own Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley declared that digital payments like e-wallet system and mobile banking would rule the roost and immensely benefit the people.

Digital payments are the future of financial transactions and here’s why you should start accepting payments from digital wallets in your brick and mortar store –

It’s easy to use

Making payments with a smartphone is simple and easy. Instead of handing cards over to a sales associate to swipe in a magnetic stripe reader, consumers can wave their mobile devices in front of a sales terminal to make payments. It’s tech savvy, convenient and fast.

It’s safe

All mobile payments are completed through 2 factor authentication process and all transaction data is encrypted. So the user authenticates the transaction and only then is it successful.

It draw’s yoounger people

Millennials quickly adapt to new solutions and your older generation is just having to keep up. As a retailer you will now benefit from both target audiences.

It will expand soon to enable new devices

Already, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets can be enabled with mobile payment technology. Now, wearables have been added to the list of compatible devices. In the future, more devices will likely be included in that group. Retailers who take part in this trend will position themselves as modern and innovative, since their consumers will be touting the newest digital products on the market.

It is here to stay

Retailers who optimize their sites for mobile devices generate many more mobile transactions than those who don’t. As part of that trend, apps generate as much as 50 percent of mobile transactions for retailers who accept payments from mobile payment technologies. Consumers today enjoy having options when it comes to making payments. Delivering an engaging app experience and connecting seamlessly with consumers across multiple devices are key to capturing ecommerce sales in this new world.

It redifines retail jobs

In the past, sales personnel at a store have also acted as security agents. That is because thieves with stolen cards would attempt fraud at stores. However, with mobile payment technology, that is no longer possible. As such, retail employees can focus their efforts on customer service, and spend less time worrying about whether the debt and credit cards they see actually belong to the customers who carry them. Allowing these sales personnel to focus on serving customers can have a positive effect on revenue for any company.

It is useful for people who aren’t carrying physical wallets

It is also important to mention that retailers who accept mobile payments will be able to cater to consumers who don’t always carry their wallets or cards with them. Some people like to browse products with no intention to buy. While these people may leave their wallets at home, many won’t venture far from their smartphones. It is likely that one of these consumers will pass by a store and want to make an impulse purchase. If the store accepts mobile payments, the customer can do so without having to go home and retrieve their wallet.

Interestingly the smartphone penetration in India is quite high, banking on which, in the last three years, 150 million digital wallets were created as opposed to the 20 million credit cards since their introduction in the 1990s. This number alone has a lot of potential to shake up many different operations and getting the attention of telcos (Vodafone, Airtel, Idea), banks (HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Axis), standalone fintech startups (Paytm, Freecharge, Money on Mobile etc.) to come up with their own mobile wallets.

As customers move towards mobile, payments via mobile are inevitable. According to a recent report by Google and The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) digital payments industry in India will be $500 billion; contributing 15% to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) and digital payments will be more than 60% of the transactions by 2020. Acceptance of digital payments will increase at the point of sale in stores