Report: Gen Z Trend Setters on Alternative Payment Types

A new Lost in Transaction report from ETA member and global payments technology company Paysafe has found that Gen Z, defined as consumers aged 16 to 24 years old, are embracing new and different ways to pay at higher rates than older generations.

According to the report, 40 percent of Gen Z consumers have some experience making in-app payments, and 15 percent make them regularly. That’s significantly higher than all other consumers, at 27 percent and 9 percent respectively. Further, one in three (34 percent) of Gen Z have used a mobile wallet, a full eight percent higher than other consumers. Whereas one in non Gen Z consumers currently use mobile wallets regularly, 14 percent of Gen Z consumers use them regularly.

Mobile eCommerce is also a popular way to shop and pay for Gen Z, but it is equally as popular with the older Millennials (aged 25-39). Just under half – 47 percent – of Gen Z and Millennials buy goods on their mobile phone more often than any other platform. That is much higher than older generations. Just 28 percent of Generation X (aged 40-54) and 10 percent of Baby Boomers (aged over 55) prefer mobile shopping.

For in-store payments, Gen Z prefers options, the report found. Fifty-three percent prefer to shop in stores that accept contactless payments, and physical cash is still used by eight in ten Gen Z shoppers when they are making purchases in brick-and-mortar stores. Voice payments are also exciting options to Gen Z, the report says.  Over half said they would use voice technology to sign up for a subscription service (52 percent) or make a one-off entertainment purchase (51 percent), and 43 percent would be prepared to pay for groceries using voice commands to their smart fridge.

“This generation is naturally more comfortable with technology but has also been exposed to a much broader set of ways to pay,” said Phillip McHugh, CEO of Paysafe Group, in a press release. “Accepting new payment types and expecting lots of flexibility and ease will be table stakes going forward.”

According to a press release from Paysafe, Lost in Transaction: Gen Z expectations at the checkout is an independent research project commissioned by Paysafe and supported by London-based agency Loudhouse in Q2 2019. The research was completed among 6,197 consumers from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Austria and Bulgaria. Respondents came from six different age groups and a variety of different professions.

Click here to read more from Paysafe.