Mobile payments in high demand with consumers

Cash is overrated among businesses, a new study by NTT DATA suggests. Consumers don’t really use it that much, and expect the payment industry to move more towards digital wallets in the future.  This is according to a new report, based on a poll of 2,000 consumers and 300 executives.

A third of consumers expect mobile money to dominate within a decade. But there is a strong discrepancy between executives and consumers -- 40 per cent of executives, in various industries, think people will pay the same for transactions in a decade than they do today. Among consumers just 27 percent expect transaction values to stay the same.

"User adoption of mobile payments has not come close to the numbers many of us in the industry predicted five, three, even two years ago", says Sam Maule, director, Digital FSI at NTT DATA Consulting, Inc. In the U.S., mobile will not overtake cash and plastic until standards are adopted to improve security and convenience for consumers. The results of our study clearly validate the expectations and challenges facing mobile payments adoption".

More than half of consumers expect cash to decline in the next three years, with the US and Europe leading the charge. For example, only 20 percent of monthly spend in the US is made with cash. A third (31 percent) of executives can’t see mobile money in their business, and among those that don’t accept this type of payment, 41 percent say they believe customers prefer cash or check.

Now for the reality check: 70 percent would love to make various purchases with either a smartphone or tablet.

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