A recent white paper published by eMarketer has detailed valuable insight into the ever growing mobile proximity payment market.
According to their research, consumers across the globe are quickly adopting the regular use of proximity mobile payments, and they have predicted that in 2018, for the first time, more than one-third (34.9%) of smartphone users ages 14 and older will use a mobile phone to pay for a purchase at a physical point of sale (POS) at least once every six months.
In addition, eMarketer expects that 13.2% of the global population will be mobile proximity payment users this year. By 2021, that proportion is expected to grow to 17.2%.
Proximity mobile payments are defined as Point-of-sale (POS) transactions made by using a mobile device as a payment method. Includes scanning, tapping, swiping or checking in with a mobile device at the POS to complete the transaction; excludes purchases of digital goods on mobile devices, purchases made remotely on mobile devices that are delivered later on, and transactions made via tablets.
Interestingly, the UK and European markets are lagging behind in adoption rates compared to China and other developing countries, primarily thanks to the widespread adoption of contactless payments, but this looks likely to change as mobile payment becomes more widely accepted at point of sale.
Indeed according to eMarketer’s latest forecast, just over 22% of UK smartphone users the equivalent of 9.2 million people, will use a mobile phone to pay at the POS this year, and the sector will grow by almost 17% – making this an interesting time for mobile payment providers.
Our team here at ReedPS are working alongside leading banking organisations who are at the cutting edge of some of these changes, helping to drive the UKs mobile proximity market forward. The focus is on a partnership designed to not only keep up with these changes, but to support innovation and market place adoption moving forward. And if adoption rates are in line with e-marketing’s predictions, it’s certainly going to be an interesting year in this sector.
You can read the full eMarketer report here:
