Customers' Unmet Needs and Pains

Payment in Argentina Current Pains Analysis¶

Argentina’s payment ecosystem is growing rapidly, yet both individual consumers (B2C) and businesses (B2B) continue to experience structural and day-to-day frictions that erode the value proposition of digital payments.

Inflationary Pressure
• Rapid, double-digit inflation diminishes purchasing power, pushes consumers toward installment/BNPL schemes, and forces merchants to update prices constantly.
• Real transaction revenues (e.g., MDR for acquirers) fall in real terms, squeezing margins and discouraging long-term investment.
Informality & Cash Dominance
• A sizeable informal economy keeps cash relevant, limiting electronic volumes and creating unfair competition for compliant merchants.
• Consumers are forced to juggle cash and digital methods, undermining the “cash-lite” vision.
Security & Fraud Concerns
• Card-not-present fraud rates exceed regional averages, generating chargebacks for merchants and distrust among consumers.
• Social media sentiment highlights phishing and account-takeover episodes linked to digital wallets.
Infrastructure & Connectivity Gaps
• Rural and peri-urban areas suffer poor mobile/data coverage, restricting QR and wallet usage.
• Merchants outside large cities struggle to justify POS investment due to unreliable connectivity.
Interoperability “Hiccups”
• Transferencias 3.0 improved instant transfers, yet QR codes, loyalty programs, and pull payments remain partially fragmented.
• Users must keep several apps; merchants juggle multiple PSP contracts.
High Costs & Fees
• MDR, POS rental and settlement delays weigh on SMEs.
• Consumers face annual card fees and soaring revolving-credit interest rates.
Regulatory Volatility
• Frequent BCRA communications (e.g., “A 7769/2023”) oblige PSPs and merchants to adapt processes rapidly, increasing compliance costs.
• Uncertainty discourages long-term technological upgrades.
Operational Complexity
• Explosion of payment choices (cards, wallets, BNPL, crypto) forces merchants to integrate and reconcile multiple systems, raising back-office costs.
• Consumers complain about app fatigue and inconsistent user interfaces.
Funding Constraints
• High domestic interest rates and shallow capital markets limit SMEs’ ability to finance terminals, inventory, or fraud-prevention tools.

Unmet Needs and Pains¶

1. Value-Preserving & Flexible Payment Options¶

Unmet Need: Mechanisms that hedge inflation and offer flexible financing without punitive interest.
Pain Manifestation
• Consumers use installments to preserve cash flow but face high APRs on revolving balances.
• Merchants deal with delayed settlement when offering “Ahora 12/18” style plans, hurting liquidity.
Evidence
• Installment schemes remain a core buying driver (Final Customers Identification).
• Social listening surfaces complaints about “cuotas” carrying hidden costs.

2. Truly Ubiquitous Digital Acceptance¶

Unmet Need: Nationwide acceptance independent of location, device, or provider.
Pain Manifestation
• Connectivity gaps block QR acceptance; shoppers revert to cash outside urban centers.
• Interoperability glitches make some QR codes unreadable by certain apps.
Evidence
• Infrastructure gaps listed as Priority 4 pain; +212 % YoY QR growth occurs mainly in metro areas (Current Demand Behavior Analysis).

3. Low-Cost Acceptances for SMEs¶

Unmet Need: Affordable MDR and hardware-light solutions.
Pain Manifestation
• SMEs voice that MDR (≈3–6 %) plus POS rental erode slim margins.
• High costs impede migration of long-tail merchants out of informality.
Evidence
• Merchant costs highlighted as High Costs/Fees pain (Customer Challenges & Pains).
• Social media discussion on “fees vs. cash discount” common among shop owners.

4. Streamlined Multi-Rail Integration¶

Unmet Need: Single back office/API handling cards, wallets, transfers, loyalty and BNPL.
Pain Manifestation
• Merchants maintain separate dashboards and reconciliation files.
• Consumers manage several apps, passwords and KYC steps.
Evidence
• Complexity of managing multiple options ranked Priority 8.
• Social listening shows “app fatigue” and lost cashback/points due to non-linked accounts.

5. Robust, User-Friendly Fraud Protection¶

Unmet Need: Real-time, easy-to-understand security without obstructive friction.
Pain Manifestation
• Consumers fear phishing; OTPs sometimes fail under bad connectivity.
• Merchants pay rising chargeback fees and manual review costs.
Evidence
• Security & fraud ranked Priority 3; social listening cites repeated scam warnings.

6. Stable, Predictable Regulatory Environment¶

Unmet Need: Clear, long-term rules to plan investments and product roadmaps.
Pain Manifestation
• PSPs delay feature launches awaiting BCRA clarifications.
• SMEs scramble to update compliance (e-invoicing, data retention) at short notice.
Evidence
• Regulatory volatility ranked Priority 7; Communication “A 7769/2023” cited as example.

7. Inclusive On-Ramps for Informal & Underbanked Segments¶

Unmet Need: Low-KYC, micro-merchant and gig-worker solutions bridging cash and digital.
Pain Manifestation
• Street vendors lose sales when customers lack cash but digital acceptance is unavailable.
• Gig economy workers receive payments in wallets yet cash-out costs remain high.
Evidence
• Informality ranked Priority 2; 200 m CBU/CVU accounts show larger inclusion, but still cash reliance.

8. Affordable Working-Capital & Equipment Financing¶

Unmet Need: Short-term credit lines tied to transaction flows at rates below traditional bank loans.
Pain Manifestation
• SMEs cannot fund POS purchase or inventory stocking due to 100 %+ annual rates.
• Fintechs struggle to scale due to limited investor appetite.
Evidence
• Funding constraints ranked Priority 9; high interest-rate context highlighted across reports.

9. Rural Connectivity & Offline-Capable Solutions¶

Unmet Need: Payment tools operable with limited or intermittent data.
Pain Manifestation
• Consumers in Patagonia or northern provinces report failed QR payments.
• Merchants must revert to manual imprint or refuse sales in outages.
Evidence
• Infrastructure gaps listed; social threads from rural users complain about “sin señal para cobrar”.

Key Findings¶

#	Unmet Need / Pain	Segment Affected	Business Impact	Evidence
1	Value-preserving, low-cost financing	B2C & B2B	Drives demand for BNPL; liquidity strain for merchants	Inflation data, installment popularity
2	Ubiquitous acceptance & interoperability	B2C & B2B	Lost sales outside urban hubs; multiple QR contracts	+212 % QR growth concentrated in cities
3	Lower MDR & hardware costs for SMEs	B2B	Limits digital adoption of long-tail merchants	Merchant complaints, High Costs pain
4	Unified multi-rail integration	B2B (indirect B2C)	High back-office cost; poor UX	Complexity pain, social “app fatigue”
5	Real-time, friction-light fraud protection	B2C & B2B	Chargebacks, user distrust	High fraud rate vs. region
6	Predictable regulation	B2B	Investment delays, compliance cost	Volatile BCRA rules
7	Inclusion of informal actors	B2C & micro-B2B	Cash persistence, missed electronic volume	Informality pain
8	Affordable working-capital financing	B2B	Limits POS deployment, innovation	Funding constraints
9	Rural connectivity or offline mode	B2C & B2B	Transaction failures, reliance on cash	Infrastructure gaps

References¶

• Economía Solidaria – “Argentina aumentó a casi 200 millones de cuentas CBU+CVU en 2024”
https://www.economiasolidaria.com.ar/noticias/economia-solidaria/argentina-aumento-a-casi-200-millones-de-cuentas-cbu-cvu-en-2024

• Infobae – “Fuerte cambio en los medios de pago: las transferencias inmediatas de dinero aumentaron casi 50 % en 2024”
https://www.infobae.com/economia/2024/12/19/fuerte-cambio-en-los-medios-de-pago-las-transferencias-inmediatas-de-dinero-aumentaron-casi-50-en-2024/

• Infobae – “La Argentina es el país de América Latina donde más se usan las billeteras digitales para pagar en los comercios”
https://www.infobae.com/tecno/2024/12/04/la-argentina-es-el-pais-de-america-latina-donde-mas-se-usan-las-billeteras-digitales-para-pagar-en-los-comercios/

• Americas Market Intelligence – “E-commerce en Argentina: estadísticas y datos 2023”
https://americasmi.com/es/blog/e-commerce-argentina-estadisticas/

• Banco Central de la República Argentina – Comunicación “A” 7769/2023 (Boletín Oficial)
https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/287697/20230517

• Payment in Argentina – Final Customers Identification (internal report)

• Payment in Argentina – Customer Challenges and Pains Analysis (internal report)

• Payment in Argentina – Social Listening Analysis (internal report)

• Payment in Argentina – Current Demand Behavior Analysis (internal report)