Tag: smartphone payments

A new report has shown that during the first quarter, alone, transactions reached the $623 billion mark.

According to a recent report that was released by the People’s Bank of China, m-payments were responsible for approximately $623 billion during the first quarter of 2014.

That market is clearly loving paying over mobile phones and consumers are rapidly adopting this tech.

The use of m-payments has skyrocketed in China by 255 percent during the first quarter, alone, when compared to the same quarter in 2013. This report underscores the trend toward mobile when it comes to the spending habits of consumers in China. This has made the country a world leader when it comes to the adoption and use of this technology, which has seen little more than struggles in convincing consumers to try it for the first time, let alone use it on a regular basis.

M-payments growth is to be expected in a market where 283 million smartphones will be shipped, this year.

In China, the use of the internet is also spiking at a similar pace, over both mobile devices and over laptops. Some of the primary evidence of this trend is over the giant, Alibaba, that has been pushing its products over both channels and which has seen a staggering 66 percent year over year growth within this year’s first quarter. Bolstered by mobile payments, that company brought in $3.1 billion in the first three months of 2014.

That said, the achievement pales in comparison to last year’s Singles Day in November. That holiday is a celebration of being single. Tmall and Taobao – both companies owned by Alibaba – took in $5.75 billion in revenue during that single day. That brought about an increase of 80 percent in the sales that were experienced on that day, when compared to the year before. This has been greatly credited to the rise of the use of mobile devices for shopping.

A PwC survey that was conducted in China last year showed that at that time, shoppers in the country were already using their smartphones and tablets to buy on a daily basis, while 62 percent were doing so weekly. This was a 96 percent raise over 2012’s figures and makes it evident that m-payments – just like mobile commerce – will continue their popularity and growth in the country.

Consumers have little interest in mobile wallets, seeing them as relatively useless

In the U.S., consumers are finding the concept of mobile wallets difficult to understand. For several years, people have been using their smartphones and tablets for a variety of activities, including hailing cabs, purchasing products online, and reviewing products and services that they are interested in. For the most part, mobile wallets are never used for such activity, which has left many people wondering why these platforms are being so heavily promoted by companies participating in the mobile commerce space.

Wallets may not offer consumers the services that they are interested in using on a daily basis

Mobile wallets are quite straightforward in their purpose. These platforms are meant to serve as digital counterparts to physical wallets. As such, they store the financial information of their users as well as a wide variety of other digital content. All of this information can be easily accessed by users of mobile devices, but this convenience has done little to wind over the hearts of consumers. Those finding mobile wallets unnecessary are not able to see what these platforms offer than traditional wallets do not.

Falling support for wallet platforms may have a negative impact on mobile commerce

The relative malaise that people seem to have with mobile wallets has had an impact on mobile payments. Many companies specializing in mobile commerce have placed their hopes on mobile wallets. If these platforms are not being used, consumers are not likely to be making mobile payments. There are mobile commerce services that are not associated with wallet platforms, but many of the largest companies working in this sector are pushing for consumers to embrace the concept of mobile wallets.

Merchants are showing relatively low interest in mobile wallet platforms

Consumers are not the only ones that are showing disinterest in mobile wallets, of course. Merchants also have yet to be won over by the capabilities of wallet platforms. Many of these merchants are somewhat interested in mobile payments, but are not willing to support wallet platforms in order to accommodate mobile consumers.