Whitepaper - The Evolution of Digital and Mobile Wallets The Evolution of Digital and Mobile Wallets | Page 5

The Evolution of Digital and Mobile Wallets

August 2016

Digital wallets often have many more functions, including person-to-person (P2P) payments and
other payment methods, balance-inquiry and reporting functions, support of loyalty programs
(rewards, coupons), and other functions (Figure 2).
The terms “mobile wallet” and “e-wallet” are specific implementations of the digital wallet for
the mobile device and for the desktop/browser environment, respectively (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Functions of the Digital Wallet

Interaction
alternatives

Information
Access

Security,
Payment and
Financial
Services

Shopping

Customer
Relationship
Building

Social media

Web/App Search

Instore/ProximityNFC

Promotions,
digital coupons

Loyalty program

Text Message

MappingDirections

In-app/Mobile
web

Ticketing –
entertainment,
travel, sports
events

Targeted
advertising

Email

In-store
navigation,
product discovery

Access controlsecurity-account
management,
Identity storage
(National ID cards,
etc.)

Transportparking, transit
tolls

Location based
marketing

Voice

Shopping
companion-price
comparison,
product
information,
shopping lists

Mobile banking,
financial services,
P2P payments

Gift cards,
vouchers

Source: Aite Group

D IG ITA L WA L LE T D E L IV E RY T EC H N O LO G IE S
While there are several different ways to classify the different digital wallets, viewing them as
different executions of specific delivery technologies may help to clarify the space. Digital
wallets can use NFC, optical/QR codes, digital (online)-only transactions, and text-messagebased transactions. Some digital wallets combine delivery alternatives, but they generally
have a primary delivery approach.
describes the different types of wallets.

© 2016 Mahindra Comviva. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.

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