The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital payments in everyday life. Eager to reduce person-to-person contact, digital payments became the norm for many consumers and businesses. For many of the new service categories that also emerged or experienced growth during the pandemic, like curbside pickup and food delivery, digital payments are a critical piece of making the transaction contactless.
In parking, digital payments are on the rise. In 2021, digital payments on the ParkWhiz platform saw a 127% increase in all types of ticket takeover transactions. And today, one in four parkers are using onsite digital payments. With innovation moving to keep up with rising adoption, digital payments are a smart and profitable service for asset owners and operators to offer.
Looking at Consumer Habits
Today’s consumer is always on their phone, whether they are consuming digital media, booking a restaurant for dinner, or finding a place to park. Consumers are also turning to their phones when it comes to paying for goods and services.
According to McKinsey, 78% of consumers are using digital payments. That number is even higher in younger users. In the 28-34 age group, the adoption rate is 93%. Digital payment users are also proving their dedication to the practice. In fact, 58% of consumers use two or more digital payment methods.
High rates of adoption are no surprise. Digital payments have become available seemingly everywhere and they make it easy for consumers to pay in stores and online with ease. Parking is no different; consumers expect mobile convenience when they park, just like they do at the grocery store.
In the cities where FLASH rolled out digital payment options, the share of onsite digital payments increased by nearly 500%. In the same cities, we found a 79% increase in the share of parkers paying with Apple Pay or Google Pay. This indicates integrated digital payments are now a critical part of the parking and mobility experience.
Benefits for Users
- Easy – With just a few taps on their phone, users can find, book, and pay for parking with ease. There are fewer steps associated with digital payments, helping to reduce the strain around the oft-stressful process of parking.
- Simple – No lost tickets, no need to carry around a credit card, and straightforward receipts and expense tracking. Digital payments are intuitive for the mobile generation and help make the parking experience feel like a natural part of their digitally-connected everyday life.
- Fast – While paying with cash or a card has to happen in-lane or at a pay-on-foot kiosk, digital payments can happen on-the-go. Whether it’s on the walk from the parking garage to dinner or on the ParkWhiz app before arriving at the garage, paying on a mobile phone saves time for customers.
Benefits for Asset Owners
- Boosts Loyalty – Digital payments are convenient and can even increase loyalty among users. In fact, repeat users for Scan to Pay transactions on ParkWhiz are up 9.2% in March of 2022 compared to February of the same year.
- Low Cost – For garages with existing equipment to regulate access and revenue control, introducing digital payments is easy and affordable. Ungated lots are also on the rise and minimize costly hardware by relying on digital payments plus camera vision technology.
- Highly Effective – Digital payments help capture revenue in a manner that is dynamic, changing rates to match changing supply and demand. Plus, with the right access and revenue control or enforcement technology, digital payments can help asset owners and operators reduce revenue leakage.
Let’s Talk Technology
- Scan to Pay is a technology powered by ParkWhiz that allows users to scan a QR code and pay for parking.
- Text-to-Pay lets users pay via credit card, Apple, or Google pay right from their messages – no app download required.
- White label apps let businesses create their own apps for parkers.
- Partners ranging from in-vehicle platforms to mobile apps can connect directly to the FLASH platform to bring digital payments to every operation.
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