Restaurants Most Likely To Adopt Mobile Payments, Consumers Say in a Survey

Consumers expect restaurants to be the top merchant type to adopt mobile payments, especially as they envision it simplifying the payment process. That’s the finding of a survey from independent sales organization Harbortouch Payments LLC, which also products point-of-sale products for restaurants and other merchants.

In the survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers fielded in April, 24.5% say restaurants will adopt mobile payments, followed by retail stores, 19.3%; entertainment venues, 17%; grocery stores, 16.5%; and transportation services, 9.2%. Some consumers—13.1%—see no place for mobile payments, while only 0.5% say more than one merchant type will adopt mobile payments.

It’s within restaurants, however, that mobile payments may best aid the checkout process, says Nate Hirshberg, Harbortouch marketing director. Harbortouch offers its own mobile pay-at-the-table service called Perkwave.

“There is a level of inconvenience in the payment process at restaurants that doesn’t exist in retail situations,” Hirshberg tells Digital Transactions News in an email. “To pay for a meal, you typically need to get the server’s attention, request the check, give them your card, wait for it to be returned, and then add a tip. If you are splitting the check with others, this process is even more complicated.”

When asked what they most disliked about dining out, 12% say “waiting for the server to pick up the bill” and 7.2% say calculating the tip. And when sharing the bill, consumers says they most often —47.5% of the time—prefer to use credit or debit cards to split the check.

“If you are able to access and pay your bill on your phone, it becomes a simple process to split the check or add a tip,” Hirshberg says. “Mobile payments put the customer in control of the entire payment process and reduce the friction that currently exists in restaurant transactions.”

As for speeding up the checkout process, consumers can use mobile payments to pay when they are ready, rather than wait on the server. And for restaurants, it means servers can spend more time taking care of customers instead closing out checks, Hirshberg says.

That may be of benefit as EMV chip cards become more commonplace, and consumers begin to use them more often. Restaurants could be challenged by EMV, which requires the consumer to dip the credit or debit card into a point-of-sale terminal to complete a transaction.

“In a retail environment, you can dip your EMV card and type in your PIN or sign on the screen,” Hirshberg says. “In a restaurant, however, a terminal is typically not brought to the table to pay. By completing the payment process on a mobile phone, restaurants can easily implement an EMV alternative payment solution.”