News

Study compares payment types, preferences, reasons for use

February 2, 2018

More than three-quarters (78 percent) of young adults age 18–34 use person-to-person payment services such as PayPal, Venmo, Google Wallet and Facebook Messenger. Of these, more than half (58 percent) use a P2P service at least once a month, and 28 percent use one at least weekly, according to a press release from Mercator Advisory Group.

However, it's not just young adults who are adopting P2P services; of 3,011 adults of all ages surveyed for the Mercator report, U.S. Consumers and Debit: Shift to Online May Inhibit Use, more than half (57 percent) said they use a P2P service.

"The rise in use of online and mobile commerce may be shifting the payment methods used," said Karen Augustine, senior manager of Mercator primary data services, which includes the CustomerMonitor Survey Series. "We continue to see slight declines in debit card use as consumers are faced with an ever increasing range of payment options which may circumvent debit transactions."

Highlights of the report include: 

• Year-over-year trending of payment types used in households, including debit card use in the U.S.
• Comparison of debit card ownership and use.
• Preferred payments for online purchases and reasons for not using debit cards.
• Preferred payments in stores.
• Cash spending and reasons for cash use.
• A shift in demographics of debit cardholders.
• Use of P2P payments by brand, frequency and use case.
• Use of online payment services by brand and reasons for using them.
• Awareness and use of bitcoin.
• Interest in mobile-based account controls for debit cards.

The 75-page report includes 33 exhibits.