Wallets in the Bazaar: What Keeps Semi-Urban Unorganized Traders Hooked on Mobile Payments

Mobile Wallet, Unorganized Retailers, SemiUrban India, Trader Satisfaction, Financial Inclusion, Digital Payment Adoption

Ajay Kumar Ganguly1
Research Scholar, Department of Management,
University of Engineering and Management,
Kolkata, Email: research.akg@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3515-7273.

Dr. Subrata Chattopadhyay2
Professor, Department of Marketing, University
of Engineering and Management, Kolkata,
Email: dr.subrata.chattopadhyay@gmail.com ;
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3712-0316

Received:17-06-2026
Revised:20-07-2026
Accepted: 24-07-2026

European Journal of Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry (2026) 34 (6s), 92-104

Wallets in the Bazaar: What Keeps Semi-Urban Unorganized Traders Hooked on Mobile Payments

Objectives: The quick advancement of digital payment technologies has changed the retail panorama and has inspired the retailers to go cashless. Of all these technologies, mobile wallets (M-wallets) have emerged as a key enabler to improve the convenience of transactions, efficiency of operations and financial inclusion in the unorganized retail sector. This work explores the adoption of mobile wallets (M-wallets) by unorganized retail stores in semi-urban India and the impact of digital payment adoption on financial inclusion, operational efficiency and sustainable business growth, despite ongoing technological, infrastructural and behavioral barriers. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional surssssvey with convenience and purposive sampling techniques to gather data from 356 unorganized retailers who are using mobile wallets in semi-urban areas of West Bengal. The data was collected using a valid multilingual questionnaire that had ten constructs with a five-point Likert scale. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural model assessment, and mediation–moderation analysis were used to analyze the proposed model via SmartPLS 4.1 Results: The study results revealed that in the context of unorganized streetside retailers in semi-urban India, Perceived Ease of Use, Trust and Trader Satisfaction are significant drivers of adoption and retention of mobile wallet, while Perceived Usefulness does not have a direct effect, and Perceived Risk has a slight moderating effect, thereby extending the TAM and SERVCON frameworks. Conclusions: The study recommends that with a better understanding of the possibilities of digitalization, easier-to-use mobile wallet applications and more trust, it will be possible to achieve faster adoption rates among the unorganized retailers and thus achieve financial inclusion and business sustainability. The results offer policy guidance to policy makers, payment service providers and app developers in creating user-friendly, secure and accessible mobile payments solutions for the semi-urban unorganized sector. Relevance: This study advances mobile wallet adoption, financial inclusion, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth among semi-urban unorganized retailers.

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