Any global, broad-based payments issue first yields a lot of noise in the data: Every market in the world is going to vary, subtly or not, from every other market. That means that when common denominators do emerge, they’re very powerful—in part simply because they are applicable globally.

Here’s one: Consumer adoption of electronic payment media at the point of sale is a migration, not an event. Given this, a strategy for increasing card usage that focuses on select segments of the population, rather than a mass-market “blitz,” is most likely to achieve results.

Consumers Migrate from Cash to Electronic Payments Along a Predictable Continuum

This is when the regional variations may very well kick in. But it’s remarkable how many markets return consistent findings. For example: Once you’ve decided on a segmentation strategy—and when you’ve decided against a “blitz,” you’ve got to go to segments, broad or narrow—you may very well find that your heaviest users of debit at the point of sale are also your heaviest cash users. And that these behaviors may correlate with affluence.

Again, drawing global conclusions can be edgy. But the above remains true. Think adoption curve, not “eureka.”

Topics: Debit