News

Future for mobile payments brighter across the pond

December 26, 2017

In the United States and the United Kingdom, a growing ecosystem of mobile payment providers is vying to become consumers' go-to payment method at checkout. But the prospects appear brighter across the pond, where contactless card technology has given mobile payments a head start, according to a recent study by Auriemma Consulting Group.

Cardholders in both markets have adopted mobile payments, however U.K. cardholders are slightly more likely than their U.S. counterparts to have used Apple Pay (12 percent compared with 9 percent) and Visa Checkout (9 percent compared with 6 percent) within the past month, a press release from the research firm said.

Use patterns are comparable for other methods such as PayPal in-store checkout (5 percent each) and Android Pay (4 percent each). And while use metrics are low, satisfaction with each technology is extremely high, Auriemma research found.

"U.K. consumers were introduced to contactless payments in 2007," Auriemma Payment Insights Director Jaclyn Holmes said in the release. "Their increased comfort with this technology in the decade since its inception makes payment behavior at the point of sale less of a barrier for mobile pay adoption. If anything, paying with a tap has become more natural for this population than their U.S. counterparts, who only recently began the move from swipe to dip."

The online studies were conducted online within the U.S. and U.K. by an independent field service provider on behalf of Auriemma Consulting Group. The U.K. study was fielded in August 2017 among 500 adult credit cardholders. The U.S. study was fielded in June and July  among 800 debit cardholders, of which 567 were also credit cardholders.