Introduction to retail payments: Mapping out the road ahead

This article introduces four papers that were presented at a payments conference “Retail Payments: Mapping Out the Road Ahead,” which was held at De Nederlandsche Bank in Amsterdam in April of 2016. These papers focus on various behavioral aspects of consumers and merchants in their choice and acceptance of payment instruments and payment activity. End-user behavior has implications for how the retail payment landscape is likely to evolve and, therefore, will need to be considered by policymakers charged with overseeing the development of retail payments.