Growing numbers of shoppers are making in-store payments via mobile device, but widespread adoption will only come when everything possible has been done to secure the process and alleviate potential consumer concerns.
Essential Retail reports that at an event hosted by payment software authentication provider MyPinPad, speakers from the payment security and retail technology sectors agreed that more needs to be done to enable mobile payments to replace cash for everyday transactions.
Gary Munro, senior consultant at Consult Hyperion, said that the main concern consumers have when using a mobile point of sale (POS) is putting their card or PIN into a stranger’s phone, or handing their phone to a stranger. However, new mobile payment standards mean that the cost of card-reader dongles is coming down.
Martin Schofield from Retail247 pointed out that retailers want to maximise their opportunity to make a sale, and offer a frictionless payment process.
While there was an issue with a lack of mobility and capability around payment hardware, he said, “PIN on mobile has increased the pace of payment deployment and reduced hardware refresh and this is a good thing for retail innovation.”
The latest consumer spending data from Worldpay shows that mobile payments in the UK are approaching a “tipping point”, following a 328% year-on-year rise in in-store mobile spending last year.
‘Tap and go’ mobile payments exceeded £975m in 2017, with almost a third of consumers now taking advantage of their phone’s payment capabilities, and shoppers are also starting to use mobile payments for higher value items.
Worldpay’s chief marketing officer, James Frost, said: “No longer just restricted to light bites and post-work pints, mobile contactless payments are becoming increasingly popular for higher-end purchases too, as manufacturers integrate more sophisticated security features into handset designs.”