NEW YORK -- Improvements in the convenience and ease of smartphone payment may be encouraging more customers to use the option, according to a new study.
As convenience retailers track the evolution of mobile payment, the growing use of smartphones to pay at retail stores may force convenience-store retailers to expand their checkout options. In a recently released study by New York-based research firm eMarketer, more than half of a growing consumer group defined as “digital buyers” will use a smartphone to complete a purchase in 2017.
According to eMarketer’s latest forecast, 95.1 million Americans ages 14 and older, or 51.2% of digital buyers, will make at least one purchase via a smartphone.
“Most shoppers regularly browse and research on their smartphones, but they’re now also making purchases with them,” said Yory Wurmser, an eMarketer retail analyst.
Wurmser offered four ways mobile payments are getting easier for customers:
- Websites are becoming “optimized” for mobile devices, making navigation from browsing to payment easier than in the past.
- Smartphone screen sizes are growing, improving visibility and making it easier to complete a purchase.
- Retailers are reducing the number of steps to payment.
- Personalized merchandising is growing as a way to make the process more relevant to the consumer.
Looking at sales, 2017 will also be a benchmark year as $75.51 billion, or 50% of all retail mobile commerce sales, will be transacted on smartphones. That will be up from 48% in 2016. As smartphones’ share of mobile commerce sales continues to rise, tablets’ share will continue to fall. This year, tablets will capture 50.6% of mobile commerce sales, with that figure falling to 48.7% next year.
Though movement to smartphone payment is inevitable, the time to act may be down the road, researchers said. Mobile commerce this year will represent 32% of all electronic-commerce sales, but just 2.6% of total retail sales. Far more shopping sessions are initiated on smartphones than are completed on smartphones. This year, 165.8 million Americans ages 14 and older will shop (browse, research or compare products) on a smartphone, but not necessarily complete the purchase on their phone. That figure represents 78.5% of total digital shoppers in the United States.
“In order to get people to make purchases on their phones, retailers need to make it as easy as possible for consumers,” said Wurmser.
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