As payments become more digitalized, payment experiences are being ‘embedded’ into customer purchasing journeys: ® 09 • Non-financial services providers (e.g. Starbucks ) are offering customers mature payments experiences in-journey. With limited in-person purchasing • This extends to emerging trends such as smart appliances (Internet of Things), voice of essentials and food, recognition, ambient sound triggers, RFID and even brain-computer interfaces. • Applications of the above capabilities could enable customers to reduce friction in identifying and purchasing essentials. ‘embedded’ payments may COVID-19 not only requires customers to cut down on traditional purchasing journeys, become the norm but for vulnerable customers to avoid them altogether. The effect of this on the food delivery market is already evident; both food and non-food online sales are increasing, with established-store sales decreasing. COVID-19’s impact on demand for essential-goods deliveries is likely to: • Catalyze long-term strategies to offer embedded payments experiences that automate repetitive purchasing. • Create opportunities for fintechs to deliver innovative solutions to meet the demand. If successful, this is likely to drive payment volumes to new heights as automated micropayments become the norm. 21 10 Ways COVID-19 is impacting payments