Consumer Awareness of Digital Wallets Tops Usage
A welter of initiatives in the mobile wallets space over the last several years has not led to dramatic growth in in-store mobile payments, with a new Forrester study estimating that although 61 percent of U.S. online consumers have heard of digital wallets, only 11 percent use one. Meanwhile, 26 percent of U.S. online adults who use a mobile phone are interested in in-store mobile payments, and 5 percent already use them. “Driving consumer interest and adoption is a steep, uphill climb in developed markets because the current payment systems work quite well,” notes Forrester analyst Denee Carrington. Nevertheless, she anticipates the continued growth of digital wallet adoption as products improve. The study categorizes digital wallet offerings as either remote-only, proximity-only, or omnichannel, with the third category expected to exhibit the fastest growth, as it spans both online and in-store payments. Forrester notes that almost all digital wallets include offers and coupons, but value-added features can vary based on whether they are from a retailer, technology firm, or financial institution. “Merchants that have their own wallet have the advantage of only needing to drive adoption with their customers, which is a smaller population needed to achieve scale,” Carrington says.
From “Many Consumers Aware of Digital Wallets, Fewer Use Option”
MediaPost Publications (12/02/13) Walsh, Mark