There is some very positive information in Deloitte’s “Merchants Getting Ready For Crypto” report released in collaboration with PayPal on 8th June. Those involved in projects that enable crypto payments should be pleased with the findings.
According to the report, three quarters of US retailers plan to accept crypto or stablecoin payments within the next two years. Plus, more than half of large retailers with revenues over $500 million are currently spending $1 million or more building the required infrastructure to make it happen.
Even small and medium-sized retailers are preparing for a crypto payments future. Some 73% of retailers with revenues of between $10 million and $100 million are investing between $100,000 to $1 million to support the needed crypto payment infrastructure.
This infrastructure spending is set to accelerate in 2022, says Deloitte, as more than 60% of retailers said they expect budgets of more than $500,000 to enable crypto payments over the course of this year.
Consumer interest
Retailer adoption is being driven by consumer interest, with 64% of merchants saying their customers have expressed significant interest in using crypto for payments. And 83% of retailers expect this to increase this year.
Around 50% of retailers believe that adopting crypto will improve the customer experience, and the same percentage claimed that accepting crypto would make their brand seem more “cutting edge.” Of those retailers already accepting crypto payments, a whopping 93% reported a positive impact on their customer metrics.
Of course, the merchants acknowledged there are challenges to adoption of crypto. The main ones were the security of the payments system (43%) changing regulations (37%), volatility (36%) and a lack of a budget (30%).
The survey polled 2,000 senior executives at U.S. retail organizations between Dec 3 and Dec 16, 2021 when crypto prices were still riding high, but the results have only just been revealed. The executives were distributed equally among the cosmetics, digital goods, electronics, fashion, food and beverages, home and garden, hospitality and leisure, personal and household goods, services, and transportation sectors.
The survey also highlighted the fact that 85% of retailers believe the acceptance of crypto payments will be ‘ubiquitous’ in their sectors in five years time.