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As the holiday shopping season swings into gear, look for more consumers using their smart phones for shopping—but not so much for making a mobile payment, says GfK, a Germany-based consulting firm, in its latest FutureBuy research.
Forty-five percent of all U.S. consumers rank mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets, as “quickly becoming [their] most important” shopping tools, says GfK. As for making a mobile payment, however, 17% say they used a smart phone or tablet in the last six months to pay for a product. The global average is 19%, and the peak is 29% in Asia Pacific.
Among all consumers, 29% agree that making a payment with a mobile device is more secure than other methods. That’s up from 23% in 2017. But among the most ardent mobile shoppers, 71% agree.
Thirty-four percent say they are confident their mobile device payments are 100% secure. That’s an increase from 28% in 2017. Again, the most ardent shoppers have more faith in security, with 70% agreeing.
Still, the research, culled from an online survey completed by 1,000 U.S. consumers, finds that many—28%—say they look forward to being able to make transactions with a mobile device. That’s up from 17% in 2015.
As for shopping behavior, 36% use a smart phone to compare prices and 30% gather product information with the device. Thirty percent check product reviews, 26% pay for products; and 25% check on items’ inventory status.
