Understanding Payment Market Changes in 2025: Why Unmanned and Non-face-to-face Payment Solutions Are Rapidly Expanding
The Moment to Understand How the Payment Market is Changing and Reflect It in Strategy and Reports When you visit a café, convenience store, or hospit...
The Moment to Understand How the Payment Market is Changing and Reflect It in Strategy and Reports
When you visit a café, convenience store, or hospital these days, you can feel that payment methods have changed. Cash is disappearing, and most people pay with their phones rather than holding a card in their hand. This is not just a trend—it's a signal that the structure of Korea's domestic payment market itself is being reorganized. In 2025, domestic card approval amounts reached 1,266 trillion won, growing 4.7% year-over-year. What's more noteworthy is that PG service (online payment) usage jumped 9.2% year-over-year to an average of 1.55 trillion won per day. This article helps you understand why these changes are happening and how they work mechanically.
This article was written by Jaiwoo Shim, CEO of TheKL Link, based on 20 years of experience in the financial and payment industry. Since the overall scale and key indicators of the payment market were covered in Part 1's comprehensive guide, this article focuses on the mechanism behind why unmanned and non-face-to-face payments are expanding and how their structure operates.
What is the Mechanism by Which Digital Payment Replaces Offline Payment?
Traditionally, offline merchants bore a complex burden of payment processing fees, terminal rental fees, monthly management fees, communication costs, and maintenance expenses. However, the structure changed with the spread of PG services (online payment gateways). Payment processing fees and fixed costs are being separated, with fees paid only on actual transaction amounts, representing a shift in how costs are handled. This follows general business principles. When fixed costs decrease, entrepreneurs conduct more experiments and find it easier to adopt new payment methods. Consequently, new forms like non-face-to-face and unmanned payments spread rapidly.
This principle is also being applied offline. Below is the core mechanism of payment environment change:
* Elimination of monthly fixed fees: Complimentary equipment provision and deletion of monthly management fees, making only actual transaction amounts subject to fees
* Shortened settlement cycles: Same-day or D+1 settlement improves capital turnover speed and increases operational flexibility during peak seasons
* Terminal diversification: Customized configurations for different business types—wireless mobile terminals, smart POS systems, smart payment terminals—lower entry barriers
The Economic Background Behind the Spread of Unmanned and Non-face-to-face Terminals
According to payment market trends tracked by TheKL Link, the healthcare industry's card approval growth rate of 7.8% is the fastest among all sectors. This is no coincidence. Hospitals and clinics have many repeat customers, numerous non-covered items (high-value transactions), and complex patient billing management. When smart payment terminals + EMR (electronic medical records) integration + AI CRM are combined in such an environment, every process from patient information → payment → revenue management → encouraging repeat visits is automatically tracked with data.
This is the core mechanism:
* Increasing proportion of high-value transactions: A hospital's annual transaction volume of 3 billion won (per facility) operates in a completely different economic environment than a café's monthly sales of 10 million won
* Complexity of non-covered payment processing: Need for functions like installment payments, foreign patient payments, and medical debt management that general PGs and VANs haven't adequately addressed
* Data asset conversion: Accumulated payment data itself becomes a barrier to entry, creating a structure where price competition alone leads to elimination
The Process of Payment Fee Structure Simplification
In the past, merchants dealt with card companies, PGs, and VANs all at once. Due to different fee systems, different settlement schedules, and varying contract conditions, merchants didn't know exactly how much they ultimately had to pay. This is called the "hidden fixed cost problem."
The structural change currently underway simplifies this:
With this simplification, merchants find it easier to determine "which conditions are better," and payment environment diagnosis becomes possible systematically.
Why Online and Offline Payment Costs Are Converging
In the past, online payment (PG) fees were lower than offline (card terminals) because there were almost no fixed costs. Now, offline is transitioning to a similar model. Why?
Economic logic: Whoever first achieves the cost structure that merchants demand will monopolize the market. The emergence of payment consulting firms like TheKL Link is for this reason. Merchants calculate their actual cost ratio based on the most recent 3 months of settlement statements and contracts:
Actual payment cost ratio = (Monthly total payment-related costs ÷ Monthly card sales) × 100
For example, if monthly card sales are 15 million won and total payment-related costs are 300,000 won, the actual cost ratio is 2%. When this figure is transparently disclosed, market competition intensifies and the overall average cost falls.
Indicators that can track this process:
* Expansion of complimentary terminal provision: Elimination of initial investment burden lowers the hurdle for new subscribers
* Abolition of monthly fixed fees: Removal of costs that were incurred even in months without sales
* Complimentary fault response: Maintenance and component replacement absorbed by partner policies
The Structure Behind Faster Spread of Non-face-to-face Payment in Hospitals, Clinics, and Premium Service Industries
TheKL Link's medical fintech platform, 'TheKL LINK PAY', targets approximately 100,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide. The reason non-face-to-face payment is spreading particularly rapidly in this market is the complexity of transactions.
Hospital payments must simultaneously handle:
* Separation of insurance-covered portions vs. non-covered portions
* Installment payments (cosmetic procedures, treatments)
* Foreign patient payments (currency exchange, exchange rates)
* Non-payment management and automatic billing
General PGs and VANs couldn't meet these requirements. As a result, hospitals sought separate payment solutions, which explains why the medical fintech market achieved a 7.8% growth rate in the healthcare industry. This is a mechanism where higher transaction complexity increases the added value of customized platforms.
The structure that TheKL LINK PAY provides for hospitals:
* EMR integration: Patient information → Automatic billing connection
* AI CRM: Payment data → Medical history → Repeat visit marketing
* KL CASH ecosystem: Points after payment → One-stop reward management
How Shortened Settlement Cycles Revolutionize Cash Flow
Past standard: Credit card payment → Card company approval → Merchant deposit in 2-7 days
New standard: PG payment or same-day settlement system → Same-day or next-day deposit
Why is this difference important? Capital turnover speed. For industries with peak seasons (cafés, restaurants, accommodations), sales concentrate during specific periods. When settlement is delayed, merchants can't immediately use that money for operations, causing delays in employee salaries or material payments.
When converted to same-day settlement:
* Improved cash flow: Monthly recurring cost savings of 100,000 won = 1.2 million won annual improvement
* Flexible operations: Can immediately capitalize additional orders and hiring during peak seasons
* Predictability: Clear settlement schedules facilitate business planning
This is why TheKL Link "improves both settlement cycles and cash flow together." Rather than simply lowering fees, it designs a mechanism that actually improves a business location's financial operations.
Why Payment Environment Diagnosis is the Starting Point for Strategy Establishment
To structurally examine payment costs, the following documents are necessary:
The reason for collecting these documents is that payment conditions directly impact a business's net profit. Revenue growth requires advertising, inventory, and personnel, but payment cost reduction increases net profit without additional investment.
For example:
* Monthly card sales of 20 million won, 2% fee (400,000 won) vs. 1.5% (300,000 won)
* Annual difference: 1.2 million won (simplified calculation)
However, for this improvement to be realized, you must compare not only fees but also settlement cycles, equipment ownership, contract periods, auto-renewal, early termination costs, and fault response.
Step-by-Step Payment Environment Diagnosis Process
TheKL Link CEO Jaiwoo Shim conducts diagnosis in the following order:
FAQ: Payment Market Changes and Business Operations Connection
Q1: Why did PG service usage increase by 9.2%?
A: Online shopping, delivery apps, and subscription services have spread, and many daily transactions have actually become digitized. More fundamentally, because PG services have more transparent cost structures than offline card terminals, new businesses and small merchants find it easier to attempt online expansion. The initial investment burden is lower.
Q2: Why do specialized industries like hospitals need separate payment solutions?
A: General PGs only handle simple payments. However, hospitals have complex requirements like insurance billing, non-covered items, installments, non-payment management, and foreign patient payments. To link all of these with EMR and conduct repeat visit marketing using patient data, a customized platform is necessary. This is why TheKL LINK PAY entered the healthcare market.
Q3: Is it okay if the settlement cycle extends from same-day to D+3?
A: It depends on your business type. For industries where daily cash flow matters, like cafés or restaurants, same-day settlement is essential. Meanwhile, hotels or hospitals where daily capital operations are less critical might find D+3 more advantageous if fees are sufficiently low. The important thing is to accurately calculate "which conditions suit my business."
Conclusion: Why Understanding the Payment Market Becomes Business Strategy
Korea's domestic payment market in 2025 continues to grow to a total of 1,266 trillion won in scale. More noteworthy is that its structure itself is changing. Fixed cost-centered → variable cost-centered reorganization is occurring, the cost gap between offline and online is converging, and non-face-to-face and unmanned payments are being standardized.
This change means more than just lowering payment fees. It means net profit increases despite the same sales, cash flow improves, and business operational flexibility increases. Particularly for industries with high transaction complexity like hospitals, clinics, and premium service businesses, payment environment diagnosis and customized solutions become key competitive advantages.
TheKL Link provides free payment environment diagnosis in Seoul, systematically understanding merchants' current situations and designing optimal conditions. Considering revenue structure, settlement cycles, fixed costs, and contract conditions, it pursues overall business operational efficiency rather than merely fees. If you need to establish strategy and reflect changes in reports based on payment market evolution, begin with accurate current diagnosis. For payment environment consultation, contact 010-2397-5734 or jaiwshim@gmail.com.
Comparison Table: Flow of Payment Cost Structure Changes
| Item | Past Offline Payment | Current Transition | Online PG (Standard) |
|------|-------------|-----------|-------------|
| Terminal cost | Monthly rental burden | Shift to complimentary | No initial cost |
| Monthly fixed fees | Monthly management and communication costs | Abolition trend | No base fee |
| Fee structure | Differs by card company | Optimal matching from 7 companies | Transparent variable costs |
| Settlement cycle | D+2~7 (slow) | D+0~D+3 (selectable) | D+0~D+1 |
| Auto-renewal | Automatic renewal (difficult to change) | Requires explicit consent | Monthly freedom |
| Data utilization | Not possible | EMR, CRM integration available | Provided as standard |
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