2021 Outlook: Merchant Services

Online Is King and Digital Ways Reign

Five years compressed into one. That’s how Mercator Advisory Group estimates the accelerated pace of online sales growth brought on by COVID-19’s impact on merchants in 2020. The stay-at-home lifestyle has transformed the scene at most Main Streets and malls into empty storefronts and silent restaurants. As essential retailers, groceries and big box stores have thrived, but they also owe their success to having pivoted smartly to e-commerce at a rate and scale that ensured their survival. Post-pandemic era merchants will leverage digital ordering, payment, and fulfillment as preferred ways to engage and maintain their customers. As the calendar turns to 2021, this Merchant Services Outlook peers into the future, looking for what proactive merchants and their payments partners should do to increase their chances of success.