Early signs of immersive or interactive experiences for shoppers are an attractive side of using mobile payments for many consumers as outlined in the article. The counter-point being that only a third of the cited survey’s respondents are using mobile payment options in the past year.
Most shoppers still prefer to make their purchases in stores for most categories, except books, electronics and office supplies.
Retailers are still experimenting with different ways to incorporate their online and offline stores—the most publicized example being beacons — though a steep path lies ahead if they want to scale the tech. Also, 70% of consumers say that they would opt into beacon services if retailers offered the right incentives.
Mercator expects the pace of adoption of mobile payment and the associated consumer interactions made possible by their use will accelerate as more U.S. consumers refresh their mobile devices to more recent iterations that have the tech required to use some types of mobile payment schemes combined with retailers being able to turn their attention to implementing mobile payment acceptance having integrated EMV standards. The migration of the wallet to the mobile device for many consumers will take place as the benefits of the personalized shopping experience generated by beacons is recognized at the individual level.
Overview by Joseph Walent, Senior Analyst, Emerging Technologies at Mercator Advisory Group
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