News

Yankee Group mobile wallet report examines slow adoption rate, offers engagement tips

August 7, 2013

Nearly 70 percent of consumers are interested in adopting mobile payments, but less than 14 percent have actually completed a mobile transaction in the past six months, according to mobile research and advisory firm Yankee Group.

The firm's latest report, "Mobile Wallets for the Masses," said that despite the presence of more than 10 payment apps that have gained the attention of U.S. mobile users, both consumers and merchants are still slow to adopt mobile wallets.

According to a news release, the report examines the mobile wallet ecosystem, explores why consumers and merchants are not adopting mobile wallets and outlines seven recommended actions wallet vendors should take to win over consumers and ecosystem partners.

Highlights from the report include:

• Consumers and merchants remain slow to adopt mobile wallets. Although mobile payments have been the darling of tech media, just 14 percent of consumers interested in mobile transactions have actually completed a mobile payment in the past three months.

• More than three-quarters of consumers are interested in NFC. Merchants and brands moved quickly to adopt QR codes for reaching mobile users; their low cost and broad accessibility have led to their ubiquity in on-premise marketing and point-of-sale merchandising both in the U.S. and overseas. NFC tags are picking up momentum after a slower start.

• Wallet vendors should personalize offers and rewards. Mobile engagement requires merchants to adopt a user-first approach. That means serving promotions and incentives to the right customers at the right time. Mobile offers modeled on desktop-based coupon services simply do not work in the smartphone context. Mobile wallet vendors should investigate solutions that have invested in building a precise profile of users.

"While consumers and merchants remain intrigued by mobile wallets, no single solution has emerged victorious," Jason Armitage, principal analyst and co-author of the report, said in the release. "As a result, the market is characterized by a multitude of mobile wallet vendors vying for dominance, with a dizzying number of available offerings. As the market matures, solutions that deliver actual value for consumers and merchants will proliferate, and clear winners and losers will become more apparent."

Learn more about mobile/digital wallets.