Samsung Pay just added a crucial new feature that should make its users happy (AAPL)

BII

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Samsung Pay customers should be very pleased with the mobile wallet's new feature.

Samsung's proprietary mobile wallet added loyalty card support on Wednesday. The wallet will now support "all U.S. retail membership and loyalty cards," along with some insurance and personal identification cards, reports ZDNet. Users can store up to 100 membership or loyalty cards in the wallet and scan the barcode at checkout, according to The Verge.

Mobile wallet users crave loyalty and rewards programs. Almost 25% of users want to use their mobile phones to manage their gift cards, loyalty programs, and rewards cards, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve.

And customers actually use these services when available. Within a few months of this feature's launch on Apple Pay, approximately 25% of cards loaded into the mobile wallet were proprietary store or loyalty cards.

This new feature could help boost Samsung Pay's biggest advantage, which is that customers can use it at any terminal that accepts either magnetic stripe or NFC-based payments. That has led to solid adoption of the mobile wallet in the early going, and this loyalty feature should only help boost that adoption.

The loyalty card feature could increase Samsung Pay usage because rewards programs incentivize customers to make purchases frequently. This new feature streamlines the rewards process, so customers should be more inclined to use Samsung Pay as a result.

The introduction of this new feature is the latest piece of the rapidly evolving payments ecosystem. Mobile wallets are flooding the market, and new technologies are changing the way that we pay for goods and services.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.