Mobile Apps, Payments in the Spotlight for Retailers as Consumer Adoption Grows

Retail app downloads, usage and purchases are increasing among consumers, a study from ETA member Synchrony Financial released last week has found. Two in three consumers have downloaded a retailer app, up from 63 percent last year, and on average consumers regularly use four retail apps, up from two apps on average last year, the 2018 Digital Study from Synchrony has found.

Of the two in three consumers with retailer apps, half have used them to make purchases, and 53 percent said they have card servicing features in-app, according to the study. In-app credit card features are particularly popular, the study found, with 77 percent of users rating them extremely/very valuable. Overall, 83 percent of consumers are happy with the customer experience offered in their retail mobile apps. Retailers are “quickly including payment features in their apps, and forward-looking companies are enabling these features” as a result, the study said.

The importance of a positive user experience is evident in the data. One in five consumers have deleted an app due to poor experience, the study said.

Overall, the growing popularity of mobile wallets and retail apps as a whole means 60 percent of shoppers think mobile wallets will replace physical ones by 2025, the study found. In fact, 61 percent of “older Millennials” are ready to leave their wallets at home right now, 19 points higher than the general population. Forty-eight percent of the general population say they would welcome retailer credit card offers on their mobile device if they “added value,” reinforcing the potential marketing value for retailers and their payments industry partners that mobile apps offer.

The study had a base of 1,255 respondents and was executed via online panel by Rothstein Tauber, according to a press release about the study.

Click here to view Synchrony’s infographic and read more about the study.