Report: US Consumers Highest Adopters of Mobile Payments

A survey of consumers in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia released last week from ETA member Transaction Network Services (TNS) says that American consumers have the highest adoption of mobile payments, with 59 percent of respondents saying they prefer the convenience of mobile payment apps. Fifty-two percent of British and Australian consumers agreed that they are likely to use mobile payment apps.

Adoption was unsurprisingly highest among younger consumers, the report found. For consumers aged 16-24, 71 percent said they were likely to use mobile payment apps on their smartphones. For those aged 25-34, 73 percent said the same. Only 28 percent of surveyed consumers aged 55-64 indicated they were likely to use mobile payment apps. The group with the highest adoption were young Americans, with 82 percent of 25-34 year-olds saying they were likely to use mobile payment apps.

Wearable contactless payment types were popular among survey respondents despite concerns over their security. Just under half (44 percent) of respondents across the three countries said they are willing to make a payment via a wearable device like a ring, bracelet or smartwatch. American consumers favored them slightly more at 47 percent.

However, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of American consumer said that concerns over the security of contactless payments via wearables would keep them from using them to make a purchase.

Overall contactless payments usage in the United States lagged behind the UK and Australia despite the higher preference for mobile payments. According to the report, 60 percent of US respondents make on average at least one contactless payment each week, compared to 75 percent of Australians and 79 percent of Britons. Both the UK and Australia have higher adoption of dual-interface contactless bankcards. Major American issuing banks including JP Morgan Chase, American Express, and Bank of America have recently announced plans to transition their portfolios to contactless cards.

Click here to see the full report from TNS.