Mobile payment volume will breach $1 billion this year

Alternative payment methods, such as ACH cards and mobile payments, are growing in popularity, and businesses and financial institutions would be wise to adopt these technologies.

Those that fail to deploy mobile payment systems could find themselves falling behind the competition, as it appears consumers are making a major shift toward this method.

A recent eMarketer report predicted that mobile payments will top $1 billion in 2013 and hit $58 billion by 2017.

While no one method has taken off, the source suggested that near field communication technology will be the wildcard.

According to TechRadar, NFC technology could change the payments world as we know it. Not only can it replace credit cards, but consumers also would no longer need bus passes and train tickets, as well as loyalty cards. NFC technology is being built into smartphones, and uses Wi-Fi style communication to help make payments.

Knowing this, businesses and financial institutions would be wise to implement technology that allows them to take payments via this method. The best time to do so is before it takes off so there is time to prepare for the influx of NFC payments.