The Rise and Impact of Sound Box Technology – An article by Changemaker Khushi Goyal

Meet Khushi, a dedicated student with a curious mind and a passion for understanding the ever-changing landscape of technology. She came to TribesforGOOD with an eagerness to explore how digital innovations revolutionise businesses, this lead to Khushi setting out on a purposeful journey to examine the role of sound box technology. Join her as she delves deep into the realm of digital payments, read her article below.

Introduction

A digital payment app, sometimes also called electronic payment, is the transfer of value from one payment account to another using a digital device or channel. This definition may include payments made with bank transfers, mobile money, QR (Quick Response) codes and payment instruments such as credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards. The sound box technology is a part of this electronic payment ecosystem. 

A sound box is a small device that enables merchants to receive instant audio confirmations of mobile payments. Paytm was the first company to introduce this technology to the digital world. According to statistics, 6.8 million shop owners use the Paytm sound box, while 1 million shop owners use the soundbox by PhonePe, and 4 million shop owners use the Google Pay sound box. Also referred to as a ‘sounding box’, this technology has helped many businesses flourish. 

Research Objective

Through this research article, we focus on understanding the use of sound box technology by local vendors to understand why they use the technology and how it helps their businesses. 

Methodology

For this research article, we undertook primary research by interviewing 16 small business vendors to understand why they use the sound box technology and how useful it is for them by preparing a questionnaire beforehand. 

Data Analysis

Out of the 16 people interviewed, the highest demographic included vegetable or fruit vendors.

The most popular brand of choice for the sound box turned out to be PayTM. Shops using multiple brands had PayTM along with sound boxes by other companies as well. 

The survey also showed that a majority of the respondents got to know about the sound box technology through other company members. 8 out of the 16 vendors started using it because of company members.

While about half of them (7 out of 16 people) started using the technology only about a year ago, a majority of the respondents claimed that the sound box helped them with services related to e-banking. Interestingly, there was one person who stated that they had to start using it out of compulsion. The technology seems to empower small vendors to attract customers who would not give them business in the absence of such digital payments, as half of the respondents stated that it brings them revenue. It is also interesting to note that the other half claimed that the revenue generated due to such technology is less than 50%. This shows that although the technology is easy to use for a majority of the respondents and they seem to like the experience of using the sound box, there is still a long way to go in order for the technology to become even more effective and enable increased revenue for such small businesses.  

Conclusion

From the responses of the vendors, we see that most people are slowly beginning to warm up to the sound box technology. Since a majority of the people responded that they were persuaded by company employees to use the sound box of PayTM specifically, we can conclude that other companies are yet to catch up. 

Recommendations

The sound box is not being advertised in the traditional way like pamphlets and audio or static/dynamic visuals. The brands which offer this technology have to make their products more visible for it to have a greater reach. Additionally, companies can focus on making it more user-friendly and target market areas where they know the use of the technology has potential. 

References 

Rest of World Article on How tiny, cheap smart speakers unlocked the rise of digital payments in India

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• Explore research with an activist mindset
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