The digital revolution has changed our lives, it has transformed the way we shop, bank, make our payments, do our travel reservations and even the way we scout for restaurants and order food. The advent of mobile apps and the rising number of mobile app development services has allowed us to save time and effort. One of the biggest boons of this technology has been a P2P application service, which has allowed us to go ‘walletless’. P2P is one of the growing trends in commerce as the concept of person-to-market is now evolving to person-to-person exchange.
One of the major P2P payment apps that had dominated the market for last one decade had been PayPal, however, now other companies have entered the field of P2P application and are competing well. According to market analysts, the US market alone will have $86 billion worth of P2P transactions. This figure is indicative of the fact that the demand for mobile app development services that offer P2P application development will be on the rise.
In this article, we will discuss the trends, figures, and takeaways of the P2P application development. But what is P2P app?
What is P2P App?
P2P is the acronym of Peer-to-Peer. This works like a middleman. With the P2P payment application, transferring of funds from one bank to another or from a bank to a card can be done. With the increase in demand for P2P payment applications, many Android and iOS app development companies are developing such applications.
Despite P2P not being a fully matured app in the market many iOS and Android development services are offering companies the platform for developing P2P apps. Such apps will allow you to split bills at a restaurant, pay back the money your friend has lend you or just conduct plain business transactions.
Trends of P2P Apps
The P2P payment application is changing the way we used the money for payments. Though P2P method of payment has a long way to go three distinctive trends have evolved in this mode of payment method. There are three types of P2P services that Android or iOS app development company is offering their client based on the enterprise.
1. Standalone P2P Services:
For example, these are platforms like PayPal and Venmo. These are P2P vendors that have their own software and mechanism that facilitates money transfer. These standalone services have their own wallet that allows users to store money from the bank and use it when they want it, or even offload it to the bank account.
2. Bank-Centric Services:
A P2P application that has a bank, as one of its parties for P2P payments for the transaction is a bank-centric P2P service. Such bank-centric services can be further categorized into two groups:
– Banks that have their own mobile apps and allows their customers to use the app for payments and other financial transactions with and from that bank.
– P2P application that transfers funds using partnered banks and credit unions.
3. Social Media Centric Services:
Several social media sites are now using P2P services that allow the user to transfer funds without leaving the social networking app. In 2015 Facebook launched such a feature with its messenger app. Google has also followed a similar path and acquired Softcard.
According to market analysts, there will be significant growth in P2P payment application development in the coming years as it has started offering not only an alternate payment method. But also it has started offering an alternate economy with the rise of cryptocurrency. As a result of this demand in the market, many iOS and Android development services are starting their ventures in developing P2P apps.
Some Figures about P2P Application
In 2002 PayPal laid the groundwork for P2P market researches shown a rise of the P2P apps. Between 2015 and 2017 there has been a 10% increase in the download of banking apps. In the same time span, P2P apps download was increased from 17 million to 46 million in the US alone, which is nearly triple of what it was in 2015.
With startups joining the P2P payment application platform the growth of this will continue. In 2016 QuickPay platform transferred $28 billion dollars, while Venmo transferred $17.6 billion.
The global digital market is having its boom and P2P is sharing 12% of the market’s transaction. Between 2015 and 2016 the expansion of P2P transaction rose from $100 billion to 147 billion.
The reason for P2P’s such staggering growth in a few years is because it allows the user to transfer money from anywhere, anytime with just a few taps. All one needs is a smart device, internet connection and the said amount in the account.
What We Takeaway About P2P App Development
When you hire Android developer or an iOS app developer for the purpose of developing a P2P payment application there are few features that you need to incorporate. Without these features, the P2P application would not survive in the market.
• Notification:
The feature informs the user when a payment is received or initiated. Also, it notifies the user of any activity of the wallet.
• Sending Invoices and Bills:
App must allow the user to generate an invoice that can be sent and received. Also, the user should be able to scan a bill.
• Transaction history:
Install a feature that allows the user to go through all the transaction history.
• Unique OTP/ID:
All mobile financial apps should give the user the option of unique OPT or ID so that before the amount gets deducted from the account or wallet you can verify it. This feature also makes P@P application have security tighter.
• Bank Transfers:
P2P payment app should offer the users the flexibility to transfer money from the app to the bank.
• Fingerprint Security Lock:
Since P2P apps contain sensitive and crucial details it is important that a developer offers the best security feature. One such feature is installing fingerprint security lock. This is customized and unique, which will allow only the user the option to avail the app and no one else.
• Chatbot:
With the development of AI chatbots can be immensely helpful in P2P apps as they can address multiple queries without wastage of time.
• Buy & Sell Cryptocurrency:
Cryptocurrencies are becoming an alternate economy and to keep up with the demand of this new method of payment one of the features should be that the P2P app allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
Apart from incorporating these features the developer of P2P payment application must be aware of the hurdles they can face. Some of them are:
• Security challenges
• Compliance with PCI DSS
• Currency conversions
• Regional limitations
• Resolving disputes
The existing players in the market of P2P are going to face immense competition with the rise of other P2P application coming into the forefront. The future of P2P is bright and with the possibility of developers integrating Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency like the millennial, more people will soon become habituated with this new method of payment.
