More than 1 in 4 mobile users in the US and Western Europe will pay in-store using NFC by 2017
StumbleUponA new report from Juniper Research has found that more than 1 in 4 of US and Western European mobile phone users will use their NFC-enabled mobile phone to pay for goods in-store by 2017, compared with less than 2% in 2012. By Windsor Holden.
By Windsor Holden
Worldwide, more and more NFC payment pilots are being launched and transitioning to full commercial service being spearheaded by both mobile network operators and financial institutions.
Key Advantages of NFC Retail Payments
The report found that, while mobile retail payment services of all types are growing in popularity, the ability to “tap” an NFC phone against a POS terminal to make a purchase has tremendous user appeal. For mobile wallet providers and partners, NFC payments also provide new and personalised retail marketing and sales opportunities above and beyond the capabilities of debit or credit cards. NFC payments can also integrate with other NFC applications, such as metro ticketing.
Customer Care Concerns
The report warns, however, that NFC retail payments services must be deployed with a fully integrated and tested customer care channel. NFC payments are a complex fusion of mobile, financial and retail technology; a single point of contact to take responsibility for resolving a problem quickly and efficiently must be established or users will desert the service.
NFC retail payments are still at an early stage, but hold great promise. In 2011 we saw significant strides made within the ecosystem such as the launch of Google Wallet, the announcements of more mobile wallet consortia and the supply of an increasing number of NFC-enabled smartphone models. NFC is now impacting the public consciousness and we expect a rapid market expansion from 2012 onwards.
Other findings from the report include:
• NFC Mobile Payments set to exceed $180 billion worldwide in 2017 as NFC becomes standard
• Mobile Network Operators can offset declining ARPU as they commit to NFC-based payment projects
The ‘NFC Mobile Payments ~ No Contact Required’ whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the study ‘NFC Mobile Payments & Retail Marketing: Business Models & Forecasts 2012-2017’.
About the author
Windsor Holden is the author of the report, working at Juniper Research, which provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.
Comments
You must be logged in to comment.