On today's episode, we discuss the reasons the metaverse will get held back and why it might not end up being the next version of the internet. Then for "In Other News," we talk about the main reason shoppers abandon their carts and why people buy things on Amazon. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Andrew Lipsman.

Customers will abandon carts if their preferred payment method isn’t available. Fiserv partnered with cryptocurrency exchange Bakkt to let consumers buy, sell, and spend digital currencies—furthering crypto acceptance at Fiserv merchants. And European acquirer TrustPay will enable merchants to offer PayPal as a payment method. Verticalization.

Customers will abandon their carts if businesses don’t offer digital payment methods—41% of consumers surveyed by Visa in December 2021 had done so in-store—driving merchant demand for solutions that support more payment methods. Fast-growing volume and usership will make mobile proximity payments the top priority for providers.

In fact, 70% of carts are actually abandoned, and 40% of people who abandon them say it's specifically because they're scared they might have to [make a] return. And then return rates themselves are extremely high—30% to 50% online return rates—which is affecting businesses like Puma. With AR, we're seeing that 80% of consumers are more confident with their purchases after buying.

Bank of America offers this functionality in the form of a digital shopping cart: Prospective clients can begin their application for a financial product online or in a financial center, add it to their cart if they get sidetracked, and resume their application later in-branch or online, according to Usha Narayana, chief digital executive for retail at Bank of America.

We expect at least a few more well-known creators will either abandon YouTube entirely or similarly cut back on their output for the platform in 2020. TikTok is one property that will benefit, as will live streaming platforms like Twitch and Mixer, which are growing quickly and have become venues for socializing and watching video game live streams.