Mobile Wallets and Contactless Payments Growing in Popularity, NFC Forum Says

Consumers are not only favoring contactless payments more, they are relying more on their mobile wallets to initiate payments, according to the NFC Forum’s bi-annual Near Field Communication Usage and Adoption study.

The study, conducted by ABI Research, reveals that 95% of respondents have left their physical wallets at home in favor of taking a mobile wallet with them at least once. Of those respondents, 17% take their mobile wallets with them daily, 36% take their wallets multiple times per week, 31% take their wallets multiple times per month, and 11% rarely take their wallets. ABI surveyed more than 2,600 consumers across nine countries.

“Almost 84% of respondents leave their physical wallet behind at least multiple times per month, with over half (53%) doing this at least multiple times per week,” the study says. “This is consistent with earlier survey questions and the growing reliance on mobile wallets. However, it also shows that people are still hesitant to leave their physical wallets at home at all times, and prefer to have an alternative payment solution available, whether cash or card.”

In terms of usage, mobile wallets are closing the gap on physical cards with 40% of respondents saying they use their mobile wallets multiple times per week, compared to 43% for a physical card. Wallets housed on a smartwatch are used much less frequently, with nearly 69% of respondents using them multiple times per month or less frequently, the study says.

“Daily use of mobile payment platforms is becoming increasingly common, with users citing the security, reliability and convenience of digital solutions as core driving factors,” Andrew Zignani, research director at ABI Research, says in a statement. 

When it comes to contactless payments in general, contactless cards remain the preferred contactless payment method, with 45% of respondents listing them as their preferred contactless payment method. Mobile wallets ranked second with 39% of respondents citing them as their preferred contactless payment method, while smartwatches ranked a distant third with 16% of respondents ranking them as their preferred contactless payment method.

When asked to rank the security of payment options available to them, 38% of respondents ranked NFC contactless payments as the most secure, followed by QR codes (28%), contactless cards (19%), and cash (15%). When it comes to convenience, 39% of respondents ranked NFC contactless payments as the most convenient payment method, followed by QR codes (28%), contactless cards (20%), and cash (13%).

When asked to rate the reliability of the payment options available to them, 31% of respondents ranked NFC as the most reliable, followed by contactless cards (25%), QR code (23%), and cash (20%). In terms of ease of use 42% of respondents ranked NFC as most easy to use, followed by QR code payments (29%), contactless cards (16%), and cash (12%).

“NFC technology enables the creation of efficient, reliable, secure, environmentally-friendly, and smart solutions,” NFC Forum Executive Director Mike McCamon says in a statement. “And with emerging concepts such as multi-purpose tap–an evolution of NFC that allows users to complete multiple required actions in a transaction in a single tap–device makers and solution providers are being empowered to create transformative solutions across all manner of vertical industries.”