Where Mobile Online Transactions Are Really Taking Off

In case there’s a doubt about the momentum of the mobile payments market, just take a look at the new report from Adyen, the global payments firm.

In its latest quarterly Mobile Payments Index, which tracks mobile payments data from browser-based transactions from its customers, the results show that smartphones have topped tablets in online retail purchase popularity.

In fact, more than a third (34 percent) of browser-based online global transactions are made via a mobile device, a 4 percent increase from last quarter.

What has been driving that growth is the affinity for mobile payments in Asian markets, particularly using JCB, UnionPay and Alipay. Across Adyen’s platform, JCB brought in 54 percent of the company’s share, Alipay came in at 44 percent and UnionPay at 31 percent.

This mirrors recent data from China’s state-backed China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) that reported just how much the mobile payments market is growing in the region. Alipay’s and WeChat Pay’s usage combined grew 64.5 percent in 2015 to top 357 million users.

It does help, of course, that — according to the most recent data released this week — more than half of China’s population of 1.37 billion is tuned into the Internet. In fact, more than 90 percent of Internet users in China access it using a smartphone.

“Mobile payments, both in-app and browser-based, are driving the growth of eCommerce, and this trend is particularly noticeable by the acceleration in mobile payments for methods such as JCB and Alipay,” said Roelant Prins, chief commerce officer at Adyen. “As mobile become[s] the primary way for global shoppers to go online and payment methods, such as JCB, see over half of online payments on mobile, the era of a mobile-first approach to payments is upon us.”

Adyen’s index also showed that smartphones have, for the first time, taken over as the most popular online retail purchase mobile device. Smartphones accounted for 17.5 percent of online retail purchases on its platforms; 16 percent were on tablets. Smartphone use over tablets was the highest in Asia, with 29.5 percent of online payments across its platforms occurring on a smartphone, as opposed to just 4.5 percent on tablet.

In the U.S., the trend was similar but not as stark. Smartphones accounted for 23 percent of online payments, versus 8 percent on tablets. In Europe, 11 percent occurred on tablets, and 23 percent occurred on a smartphone.

Adyen’s data also showed that the U.K. continues its dominance in the mobile payments market, with 49 percent of online transactions occurring on a mobile device (34 percent on smartphones). The Netherlands was also a popular market with 35 percent mobile (23 percent on smartphones), and Sweden was also strong with 32 percent on mobile (25 percent on smartphones).