The Payment Source Blog

For the majority of e-commerce history, credit cards have been practically the only way to make payments. If you didn’t have a credit card, had maxed your limit, or didn’t want to share it online, you were out of luck. In the early days, this was sufficient as there were other larger issues for online retailers to deal with such as logistics and shipping costs. As 92% of Canadians have a credit card, this was a case of ‘good enough’. But, as Bob Dylan says “The times, they are a changin’”.

When one thinks of the government payments, it doesn’t necessarily conjure up thoughts of innovation or change. Government is typically slow to change, which is not always a bad thing. When it comes to public policy and what’s best for Canadian’s a bit of reflection and thought can go a long way.

Cyber Monday, the biggest day in the eCommerce world is rapidly approaching on Nov 27th. Last year, sales topped $3.4 Billion dollars in Canada, a huge amount, but still much less than the amount spent in-store on Black Friday. Even as Canadians get more comfortable shopping online, there are some notable barriers that keep many from taking advantage of the online deals. For example, according to the Bank of Canada, less than 40% of Canadians view online transactions with credit cards as secure and 59% will abandon their cart if their preferred payment method is not in place.

I’m always amazed at the number of new Fintech startups in the market, many of which are creating fantastic new experiences and services to help facilitate banking, payments, wealth management and others. And all of these seem to be targeting the same consumer - the tech savvy, mobile-enabled millennial. While this is all well and good, there is a darker side to this innovation - namely that it’s creating larger and larger gaps between this target group and many other Canadians who are not yet comfortable or capable of operating in this brave new world.

Choosing which charities to support is a very personal choice. In many cases, a donor to a charity is personally connected to the cause based on their own history and background.