Tag: mobile payments

Research shows that consumers are beginning to favor mobile payments

Mobile payments, especially bill payments, are becoming increasingly common among consumers throughout the world. More people are beginning to see the merits of mobile payments, considering mobile a more convenient form of commerce than traditional forms of payments. A recently study from Juniper Research, a leading market research firm, suggests that more than 200 million mobile consumers will be making mobile payments for bills by 2017. SmartDebit, a leading Direct Debit bureau, claims that this possible future is well on its way to becoming a reality.

SmartDebit sees a bright future for mobile commerce

SmartDebit has been tracking the growing trend of mobile payments among consumers, especially those in developed markets. A large portion of consumers in these markets make use of their smartphones or tablets in daily life, relying on these devices for social media, entertainment, and other services. As consumers become more involved in the mobile space, new forms of commerce are emerging, offering consumers the opportunity to forgo the use of traditional currencies and adopt a more virtual approach to the matter of commerce.

Bills and payments may be easier to manage on mobile devices

According to SmartDebit, mobile payments account for a significant portion of the payments that are made online by consumers. Transactions are beginning to move away from the PC sector and toward the mobile sector. SmartDebit suggests that consumers prefer to manage their bill payments and other transactions from a mobile device as these transactions can be made anywhere and at any time. As mobile commerce services become more available to consumers, the prevalence of mobile payments is expected to increase.

Mobile commerce gains allure as businesses support it

Investments coming from the retail industry and other sectors of the business world are helping propel mobile payments among consumers. As businesses become more accommodating of mobile commerce, it is becoming more likely that consumers will purchase products using their mobile devices in order to take advantage of the services that companies offer.

A recent study performed by scientists at Oxford University has added cleanliness to the list of benefits.

Providers of mobile payments are struggling to promote the adoption of their services among consumers, but they have just been handed another benefit that they can add to their list.

The release of the results of a study has shown that it is cleaner to use smartphones to make purchases.

The study showed that cash is exceptionally unclean, which makes mobile payments far more appealing to a growing number of consumers who are trying to limit their exposure to unwanted bacteria and pathogens. In a world where we are continually being reminded to wash our hands and keep clean, simply paying with cash could be taking these efforts a step backward, said the Oxford University study.

The study was conducted by the scientists on behalf of MasterCard, to help to push its cashless and mobile payments programs.

The university researchers examined European bank notes and what they discovered was that each contained an average of 26,000 bacteria. Even the brand new notes that they examined still had an average of 2,400 bacteria, to which the consumer could come in contact.

According to Ian Thompson, a professor of Engineering Science at Oxford University, “The bank notes we tested harbored an average of 26,000 bacteria, which, for a number of pathogenic organisms is sufficient for passing on infection.” He went on to add that “Previous studies of bank notes have indicated contamination with potentially harmful bacteria such as Klebsiella and Enterobacter, species which can cause disease in humans.”

Professor Thompson also added that as the concerns continue to rise about strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, there is some value to conducting a broader study that can help to track the spread of strains that are resistant throughout their movements around the world by way of bank notes.

This type of study can only be good news to mobile payments providers that are pushing for cashless societies in which it would be very rare to have to come into contact with cash such as bank notes at any time.