New Survey Looks at the Impact of Mobile Devices on Shopping Behaviors
October 30, 2013 – Over the past six months, Merchant Warehouse conducted a survey of over 550 consumers and merchants on how mobile devices are changing shopping behaviors. The survey, which was aimed at a general population of consumers and small business owners through social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and viral share), revealed some interesting findings.
Merchant Findings:
- Merchants see the looming EMV deadline as an opportunity to upgrade their current payment acceptance devices.
- More than 25% expect to upgrade their POS current device to include NFC within the next 1-3 years.
- About 33% expect to upgrade their current POS device to include QR Codes within the next 1-3 years.
- An increasing number of customers are asking merchants to use their phone to make in-store purchases.
- 29.3% of merchants reported customers asked to make in-store purchases via phone within the last 6 months.
- About 90% of merchants surveyed report varying degrees of familiarity with mobile payments.
- 82% of merchants see mobile payments as a way to leverage enhanced customer engagement opportunities.
Consumer Findings:
- 44% of consumers report making an in-store purchase via mobile device within the last 6 months. Of those purchases, about 33% were made with some form of QR Code.
- Consumers also highlighted their use of branded payment apps, like Starbucks and PayPal.
- A chief concern for consumers around mobile payments is security, as 34.6% listed it as a top priority. Coming in second on priority items was ease of use at 26%.
- Another 37.6% of consumers say they would consider paying via mobile device if they knew it had a security advantage over their credit/debit card.
- 91.6% of the respondents are smartphone users.