What is the new payment trend in the US this holiday season?

MUMBAI, INDIA: Mobile payments are set to take a leap in US, this holiday season. Mobile payment services are set to set a new trend in the US.

However, identity theft, payment fraud and data privacy concerns remain the biggest barriers to mass adoption of mobile payment services, says a new INSIDE Secure survey about consumer in-store mobile payment trends by Research Now.

Evaluating the mobile payment preferences of 1,217 consumers from the US, the survey revealed that 17 percent of respondents who did not make holiday purchases with their mobile phone last year, plan to use a payment service such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay or a proprietary service from their bank or card issuer to make the leap to mobile payments this holiday season.

People who will not be using their mobile device to make in-store purchases cite identity theft, payment fraud and privacy concerns as primary reasons.

Mobile payment services or digital payment wallets are smart phone payment apps used to pay for goods and services at the point-of-sale (POS). Examples include Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Wallet, Softcard, Starbucks’ mobile payment app, and card issuers’ proprietary payment apps. The research reveals growth in the popularity of mobile payment services this holiday season.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents plan to make in-store holiday purchases with their mobile device this year compared to 33 percent last year.

Seventeen percent of respondents who did not use their smart phone to make holiday purchases last year, plan to make the leap to mobile this year.

Men at 53 percent are ahead of women at 47 percent in their plans to use mobile payments this holiday season.

Mobile payments are most popular with people 18-44 years of age. Sixty-four percent of consumers planning to use their smart phone at the point-of-sale are between the ages of 18-44 years old versus 36 percent of consumers aged 45 or older.

iOS users are more likely than Android users to be using mobile payment services at the POS this holiday season. 45 percent of iOS users will make a mobile payment, whereas only 26 percent of Android users will do so.

But: Security concerns are the biggest barriers to mass adoption.

Seventy percent of people who are not planning to use their smart phone to make in-store holiday purchases state that their concerns about identity theft prevent them from using in-store mobile payment applications.

Seventy percent state that their concerns about mobile payment fraud prevent them from using in-store mobile payment apps.

Seventy-one percent stated that the privacy of their transaction data was a top concern.

“It’s exciting to see the evolution of in-store mobile payments from last year to this year,” said David Monahan, Research Director, Enterprise Management Associates.  “However, for mobile payments to make the leap to full-scale adoption, the industry must create the consumer confidence that the technology is more secure than traditional card-based payments having the security to prevent identity theft and privacy compromise they have been experiencing.”