As 2013 comes to a close, experts are creating their lists of things that people can look forward to next year. The payment industry is no different and 2014 could have a number of changes in store.

A recent article from Convenience Store Decisions examined several of the major issues that organizations will need to deal with in 2014. One of them is the impact of mobile commerce options for retailers. This includes several different components including consumers preferring to pay with a mobile device and the need for NFC technology at the cash register.

The article mentions that there will be a projected 24 million mobile devices in the hands of customers by 2020. As more consumers use their smartphones for daily tasks, it becomes more likely that they would prefer to use those devices for making purchases.

Fortunately, merchants have some time before they need to implement these solutions.

"During the Retail RAMP Show, held in Chicago in October, Dodd Roberts, executive of the Merchant Customer Exchange, noted the road to mobile commerce, is a marathon, not a sprint. We have a long way to still go yet. It's time to make decisions, but we have time still to evaluate," the article reads.

With the help of a retail solution provider that understands the new age of retail payments including mobile POS, NFC and EMV, any organization can enter the new age of retail and make sure it is able to meet consumer needs.