X Money Wants to Make the Feed a Financial Front Door

Digital wallets have made the phone a familiar place to pay. X Money is testing whether a social platform can claim a place in that payment routine.

Consumers already have wallets on their phones, stored credentials at merchants and payment apps that reduce the work required to complete a transaction. But success is no layup: X Money has to give them a reason to add another financial relationship and then use it often enough to matter.

An email from X provided to PYMNTS shows how the company is making that case directly to prospective users. The Aug. 17 email, with the subject line “Exclusive Access to X Money,” promises early users “industry leading interest on your balances, and cashback on eligible purchases with your personalized metal card.” The accompanying promotion also advertises an “industry leading APY on balance,” cash back on the X Card and a free gift to get started.

Those are familiar financial-product incentives, but X is putting them inside a platform built around social engagement.

Wallets Are Becoming Financial Tools

Digital wallets are no longer limited to storing card credentials. As noted in the PYMNTS Intelligence report, “The New Checkout: Crimped Consumers Lean Into Online Retail and Digital Wallets,” we’ve spotlighted wallets as apps that can store credit and debit cards while also offering functions that resemble checking and savings accounts. There are also, of course, credit and installment capabilities available through wallet environments.

That evolution is particularly relevant to X Money, as interest on balances, cash back and an associated card place the product closer to the broader financial-services direction wallets have been taking.

The PYMNTS Intelligence data also shows that wallet adoption is moving beyond convenience alone. Consumers experiencing high financial stress were more than twice as likely as low-stress consumers to use a digital wallet for their most recent retail purchase, at 28% versus 11%. For groceries, the corresponding figures were 21% and 8%.

For X, the broadening of wallet utility creates an opportunity while raising the standard a new entrant must meet. A digital wallet can now sit between consumers and several parts of their financial lives: cards, balances, payments, credit and spending information. Winning usage therefore requires more than providing another place to store a credential.

But in one bit of caution: It may be too soon to assume that social activity by itself will determine where a transaction gets completed.

PYMNTS Intelligence research on influencer-driven commerce found that 95% of consumers who have made an influencer-recommended purchase typically conduct additional research. Customer reviews are the most common source, while consumers also consult online forums, compare prices across platforms and visit manufacturers’ websites.

Discovery can begin inside a social feed without the entire purchase journey remaining there. Consumers can encounter a product on one platform, research it elsewhere and ultimately pay through a wallet or merchant checkout they already know.

X Money therefore enters a market in which established payment behavior is already moving toward wallets. Consumers can sign up for another financial product without making it part of their regular payment behavior. X Money has the advantage of operating inside an established social platform, but it is entering a wallet market where consumers already have ways to initiate and complete everyday financial tasks.

Converting time spent on X into payment activity will depend on whether those users find enough reason to change a financial habit that begins with a wallet already on their phone.