A recent poll showed that 80 percent of Americans would prefer to buy goods and services online using safer and simpler methods than credit and debit cards. Americans’ concerns about using their payment cards for online purchases included junk mail (55 percent of all respondents), merchants selling their personal information (54 percent), and a lack of security around their data (51 percent). 60 percent said they would choose one site over another based on whether or not it offered “no-credit-card-required” payment options.
In terms of alternatives, almost four to one consumers believe that bill-to-phone payments are more secure than payment cards. In addition, PayPal has become a more preferable method of payment than credit and debit cards.
Phil Blank, MD, Javelin, says: “If digital merchants simply offered consumers an alternative way to pay, such as mobile carrier based payments, 79% of decisive consumers indicated they would spend more, driving significant new incremental revenue from subscriptions, transactions and purchases.”