Only one-in-five Brits are using mobile payments, and a new survey indicates this is largely due to concerns about security and complexity.
A study commissioned by Zapp and conducted by ICM1 reveals that only 17 percent of UK consumers have made a mobile payment. Interestingly, the report also shows that about 60 percent of mobile transactions were not actually used to pay for products or services, but instead consumers were using mobile phones to make bank transfers between accounts.
More than half of consumers said they were ready to start paying via mobile, so what is holding them back?
What Is Holding Mobile Payments Back?
Zapp surveyed over 2,000 consumers in the UK and prompted participants to explain the lack of mobile payments adoption.
One-in-five said not enough shops accept mobile payments, and 18 percent claimed it is hard to pay via mobile with friends or family who don’t adopt the same mobile payment system.
Security remains the most prominent fear prevalent amongst consumers. The report shows that half of the respondents said they are concerned about current mobile payment schemes because they worry about security risks.
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Peter Keenan, CEO at Zapp, explained to Retail Times, “The research paints a picture of pent-up demand and frustration. People want to pay with mobiles, but they need to be convinced that payment is secure, and it has to work everywhere and be totally hassle-free. History shows us that mass adoption always follows trust and convenience, which in turn is enabled by cooperation.
Simplicity Is Needed
One-in-ten respondents said a convoluted registration process is what prevented them from taking on mobile payments. Consumers revealed that they would be keen to use alternative payments if they could sign on with their existing bank accounts and mobile phones.
“We’ve seen these kinds of interoperability and availability issues frustrate people and slow down adoption before – for example in the early days of ATMs when you could only withdraw money from a cashpoint owned by your bank, or when mobile operators charged high amounts to call someone on another network,” said Keenan.
Ultimately, Brits would like to see an additional registration process eliminated, which would make the on-boarding process much simpler. The majority of the survey’s participants agreed a simpler process was needed (86 percent.)
Forty percent said they would like to start using mobile payments, which is an increase from the 33 percent who admitted the same in a similar study conducted earlier this year. Of the people who said they would like to use their mobile devices for payments, the top categories they revealed they would be comfortable paying for were: online shopping (69%), groceries (59%), entertainment purchases (55%), and bills payments.
“For mobile payments to really take off, it’s clear banks and retailers need to work together more closely – using their brands to win trust and making it easier and more convenient, said Keenan. “We are hugely excited that Zapp’s digital first payment ecosystem will offer much greater levels of security, trust, interoperability and availability than what’s currently available when we launch 2014.”
To read the full study at Retail Times click here.
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