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At the start of 2018, we\u2019re seeing a major shift in the way consumers view payments.<\/strong><\/em> Mobile payments, especially P2P and P2B, have hit the mainstream. New user-friendly apps provide greater speed, flexibility and payment options than ever before, and consumers can\u2019t get enough. P2P transaction rates have risen 55%<\/a> over the past year, and they\u2019re expected to double in 2018.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Payment service providers must realize that consumer expectations for P2P and P2B have extended into traditional POS payments as well. Let\u2019s take a quick look at where the market stands, and how these changes will impact retailers.<\/p>\n The Back Story<\/strong><\/p>\n P2P payment growth is a classic success story: someone saw a market need, and designed a product to meet it. Granted, in the first few years, the market was miniscule. Venmo, the early leader and a solid P2P platform, was limited by its appeal to only a small segment of the millennial population. But it didn\u2019t take long for the possibilities of P2P to catch the eye of larger players. Once Facebook got on board offering P2P through its Messenger platform, P2P finally started to gain major momentum. Paypal promoted its Friends and Family service, reinforcing the image of P2P as a solid payment option. Now, P2P has reached the market saturation to become a social norm. Consumers trust it as a dependable, standard payment method.<\/p>\n Of course, the next natural step beyond P2P is P2B, and this is also an area where mobile payments shine. P2B payments offer small businesses the option to provide flexible payment methods to their clients, with little to no effort on the backend. There\u2019s no merchant account, no POS hardware, and relatively low fees. What\u2019s not to love?<\/p>\n