PunchTab Runs Down the Highs and Lows of Mobile Payments

PunchTab recently issued a new report on the mobile payments market, offering up a look at the stakes of this major new front, but also highlighting some of the challenges to be found therein as well.

The PunchTab study offered quite a bit of that precious insight, leading off with an absolutely staggering number: by 2020, it’s expected that there will be a little better than 1.4 billion users of mobile wallet technology.

Even right now, mobile wallet technology is still often regarded as the realm of the early adopter, and retailers don’t seem to be in much of a hurry to make opportunities available.

One of the general conclusions the market so far seems to have about mobile payment systems is that there are still some major privacy concerns involved, and the apps in question are difficult to use. That suggests an uphill battle ahead for all the major mobile wallet systems; when the market regards the product line as difficult, dangerous, and with very few uses, that’s a cause for concern.

But, while the early picture may suggest disaster, customers’ perception of the near-term future, likely colored by memories of earlier advances, offers some hope.

Twenty-four percent of smartphone owners in PunchTab’s research have used at least one mobile payment app, with the wide majority turning to the Starbucks App. But users have also turned to names like Google Wallet, Visa Checkout, PayPal Wallet and Square Wallet, among others.

The Starbucks App has proven to be a major starting point for a lot of users’ mobile wallet experience, with the combination of speed and convenience coming together nicely and allowing Starbucks to incorporate useful extras like discounts and loyalty program integration.

One key discovery revealed that speed was universally the top priority; both those who have used the Starbucks App and those who haven’t used it both considered speeding up checkout functions to be the top reason to use a mobile payment app.

Further, both Millennials and the 35 and up crowd both confirm that the most desired form of mobile payment app is one that not only works at a variety of stores, but one that has integration with specific stores, making it widely usable with plenty of extra benefits. The biggest concern, meanwhile, in using mobile payment apps is one of security, with 62 percent of respondents expressing concern.

This is where Apple Pay comes in; the two biggest hurdles facing the market are customers’ concerns about usefulness and security, and Apple can offer solutions for both of these.

If Apple can successfully get this point across, it may well have the best hand when it comes to the mobile payments market, which is a massive market indeed. The problem here for businesses, however, is being ready to take advantage of this movement.

There’s a lot of volatility in the payments sector right now. Some stores array themselves against Apple under the banner of the as-yet-unreleased CurrentC program, and some stores open arms wide to accept Apple Pay, and the legions of Apple shoppers—not to mention the relevant disposable income—that come along with, it’s getting to be a decision that must be made.

Since most businesses really haven’t taken a side yet on mobile payments, there’s not much to lose. Indeed, many businesses are focused on the holiday shopping season already in progress. But this is a decision that needs to be considered, and soon. Failure to do so could mean substantial losses, and even the future of some businesses.