TMG: prepaid cards use to rise in emerging contextual consumer segment

Many contemporary digital payment solutions, such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Pay with Amazon, depend on traditional credit and debit cards to authenticate and fund behind-the-scenes financial transactions.

TMG experts concede acceptance of prepaid cards is hit and miss in the current digital payments marketplace. Yet, they expect acceptance to increase as digital payments become more commonplace and demand for prepaid options continues to rise.

To support their prediction that prepaid demand will increase, they highlight three consumer trends:

• Hesitation to enroll credit or debit cards in connected devices. Powering connected devices with a prepaid card rather than a credit or debit card can help calm concerns related to financial losses following a compromise.
• Growing consumer desire for anonymity. Using certain types of prepaid cards is one way consumers can make their payments data less traceable.
• Preference for prepaid by Millennials. As the first generation with total connectivity, Millennials are also the pioneering generation of the IoT. The combination of Millennials’ payment preference and IoT engagement creates a market ripe for prepaid.