A new survey has revealed that a growing number of companies in the E.U. accept payments via smartphones.

A new report has recently been released by yStats.com, a secondary market research company based in Hamburg, Germany, which has suggested that European mobile payments is a growing trend in the continent.

The report also pointed out that more companies are accepting transactions online, boosting regular e-commerce.

The “Europe Online Payment Methods 2013 – Second Half 2013” report showed that the use of smartphones for European mobile payments is growing in use for making traditional retail purchases in the E.U. countries as well as in other regions around the world. The report pointed out that the transactions being completed by way of smartphones and tablets has been increasing its share of the overall digital space, and that it is expected to make its way into the double digits by the year 2020.

In 2010, European mobile payments represented only 1 percent of all online forms of transaction.

This will require an extremely rapid level of growth an adoption if it is to reach at least 10 percent of online transactions only a decade later. The reports data showed that this technology is making the biggest headway in Turkey, Spain, and the Netherlands, among countries located in Europe. This is particularly true in the use of smartphone banking. The highest traditional online banking – where it is above 80 percent, is in Norway, Finland, and the Netherlands.

There is extremely promising growth being seen in European mobile payments and traditional online transactions in the mature markets of the central part of the continent. For example, in Germany, PayPal and invoice were the two most popular forms of B2C E-Commerce transaction methods. Furthermore, the smartphone paying method is starting to take off quickly in areas that have implemented terminals for parking or ticketing, with 10 percent of consumers having tried those technologies at least one time in 2012.

The report predicted that in the Western sub-region of the continent, the transaction value of European mobile payments will be growing by half in 2013 when compared to the year before.

Apptive announces additional funds raised

Apptive, a mobile commerce firm based in Texas, has announced that it has raised over $1 million in funding through recent efforts. The firm offers services to those looking to develop their own mobile commerce applications. A growing number of retailers and online merchants are beginning to focus on the mobile sector in order to take advantage of the swell of consumers that have come to populate this sector in recent years.

Consumers are becoming increasingly mobile

With smartphone and tablet devices becoming more common among consumers, retailers have had to change their engagement methods in order to ensure their continued relevancy. As such, many companies have come to take mobile commerce more seriously. Over the past three years, retailers have been dabbling in various mobile solutions that promise to boost their consumer engagement. Few of these solutions have managed to deliver on this promise, however, encouraging retailers to take matters into their own hands.

Apptive seeks expansion

Many retailers are interested in developing their own mobile commerce platforms. Apptive can assist in this endeavor by providing services that are specifically tailored for such initiatives. The funding that the firm has risen recently will aid in the expansion of its services and assist the firm in establishing new partnerships with merchants operating in the mobile sector.

Partnerships add momentum to Apptive’s allure

Apptive’s Easy App platform officially entered beta testing in the spring of this year. The firm has been seeking out partnerships with companies in order to establish a more formidable presence in the mobile commerce space. Apptive has partnered with Bigcommerce, Colusion, 3dcart, and Shopify and has managed to establish a strong following based on these partnerships. Bigcommerce, for instance, has reported that 70% of its merchants who create an application through Apptive go on to publish the application to their customers, securing a significant financial boost.