Accenture Survey Identifies Actions to Increase Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments
Financial incentives and mobile-based financial-management tools could
increase consumers’ use of smartphones as payment devices, according to
an Accenture (NYSE: ACN) survey
of 4,000 smartphone users in the United States and Canada.
More than half of respondents who currently use their smartphones to
make payments said they were highly likely to pay by phone more often if
they could use their phone to track receipts (cited by 60 percent of
respondents), manage their personal finances (56 percent), or show proof
of insurance (56 percent) or of a valid driver’s license (54 percent).
In addition, more than half of those who currently make mobile payments
also said they were highly likely to pay by phone more often if they
were offered: instant coupons from retailers when buying by phone (cited
by 60 percent of respondents); reward points stored on their phone for
future purchases at the store (51 percent); coupons that could be
automatically stored on their phone (50 percent); or preferential
treatment, such as priority customer service (50 percent).
The same value-added tools and incentives could increase the adoption of
mobile payments among non-users. For instance, about one in three
non-users said they would be more likely to use mobile payments if they
could use their phones as proof of insurance or to track receipts (each
cited by 32 percent of respondents). And about one in five non-users
said that they would be more likely to use mobile payments if they
received a preferential treatment at retailers or coupons for future
purchase that could be stored on their phones (cited by 21 and 20
percent of respondents, respectively).
“Our survey reveals that current users and non-users alike can be
incentivized to use their smartphones to make mobile payments through
rewards for usage or other value-added tools such as receipt tracking,”
said Jim Bailey, managing director and head of Accenture
Payment Services in North America. “As consumers expect their
smartphones to improve and simplify their lives, financial institutions,
merchants, mobile network operators and technology providers should
consider incorporating new mobile payment applications to encourage
broad adoption as quickly as possible.”
The survey also found that security concerns are the greatest barrier to
consumer adoption of mobile payments, with 60 percent of respondents who
do not use their smartphones for mobile payments citing security
concerns as a reason for not doing so. Privacy issues and the
convenience of using cash, checks or credit cards were the
next-most-mentioned reasons, each cited by 37 percent of respondents.
“While the industry is preoccupied with the technology roll-out for
mobile payments, we found that consumers are still very concerned about
security and privacy issues,” said Matthew Friend, managing director, Accenture
Payment Services, North America. “In addition, a significant number
still don’t see the convenience and value of using their phones to make
payments. For mobile payments to achieve widespread adoption, consumers
must be educated about the fact that mobile payments are secure and more
convenient than other payment options. While persuading current users to
become more regular users is clearly important, getting people to use
this technology in the first place is the biggest challenge the industry
faces.”
Methodology
Accenture designed and commissioned an online survey of smartphone
owners in the United States and Canada, which was conducted by
Lightspeed Research in October 2012. Respondents were representative of
the population of smartphone owners in gender, age and income in both
countries. The 4,002 respondents included 3,401 from the United States
and 601 from Canada.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with approximately 261,000 people serving clients
in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience,
comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies,
Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance
businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of
US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page
is www.accenture.com.
Accenture
Payment Services is a business service within Accenture’s Financial
Services operating group that provides management consulting, technology
and outsourcing services to financial institutions. Its services are
designed to bring significant improvements in core payments, card
payments, digital payments, transaction banking and compliance, risk and
operations. Accenture has supported more than 50 banks worldwide,
including some of the largest institutions, on projects that span the
payments cycle and range from traditional to multi-channel and mobile
platforms.