Retail, reinvented
Smartphones are becoming integral to our retail experiences – 13% of UK adults have now made a mobile payment in-store, 40% have made a mobile-commerce purchase with their phone and 59% have used their smartphone to browse retailers’ sites.
While the trends are all upward, currently just 1% are using their phones to make payments on a regular basis (see Figure 1). We expect that in a year’s time the proportion of phone owners who pay using by their phone in-store will increase further, and the proportion of those who do so regularly will rise sharply.
Figure 1. Frequency of making in-store payments among smartphone owners
Q. How frequently do you use your phone to make an in-store payment?
Weighted base: Respondents who own or have access to smartphone (3,039)
Source: UK edition, Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey, May - Jun 2015
In-store mobile payment usage should surge, especially among consumers who frequent stores which offer this payment method and whose friends are already using their devices to pay.
For the uninitiated, security is likely to remain a concern (see Figure 2). Among UK adults who have not yet used their phone to pay in-store, 42% think mobile payments are not secure enough. This is despite the fact that fingerprint-authorised mobile payments can be the most secure way to pay at present.
Figure 2. Reasons for not making in-store payments via mobile phones
Q. What are the main reasons why you do not use your phone to make payments in-store?
Weighted base: Respondents who never made an in-store payment (3,176)
Source: UK edition, Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey, May-Jun 2015
Recent news on mobile and payments has focused on in-store transactions, but mobile commerce is arguably the bigger opportunity.
Of the 59% of all UK adults who have used their phone to browse shopping websites or apps, over half do this at least once a week. But only 11% of those who have bought items through their smartphones do so weekly.
We expect this volume will rise if retailers move away from the cumbersome process of manual credit card detail entry towards a one-click or fingerprint impression payment option.