A new infographic from Expert Market has mapped out mobile wallet usage in 36 countries around the world. In the US, only 3% of retail sales were completed through a mobile wallet.
The global penetration rate of this technology is still very low topping at 6%, except for one country. The one outlier in this report is China, which has a staggering 36% of the population using mobile wallet. This is nine times the global average of 4%.
As consumers move away from cash, businesses have to implement payment solutions capable of addressing this change. This is because they now have more ways than ever to pay for the product and services they purchase.
Businesses have to make the payment process as seamless as possible and remove any pain points for their customers. With smart mobile phones, consumers have a technology which brings most of what they need in one platform.
Lucy Crossfield of Expert Market, addressed this aspect of the technology in the emailed press release.
Crossfield said, “Mobile phones are becoming the no.1 device for everything from chatting to friends to watching TV to paying for all of our worldly possessions, and why? Because it’s just so much more convenient to have everything in one place -in today’s world, convenience is king!”
It is this convenience which will drive in more customers to your place of business. As Crossfield added, “Our study confirms it – the days of fumbling around in your wallet for your credit, debit and thousands of loyalty cards are seriously numbered.”
Businesses have to start deploying mobile wallet technology as part of their overall POS system sooner than later.
Besides China, What Countries Are Making Gains in Mobile Wallet Adoption?
The report by Expert Market says by 2022 only 17% of global payments will be made using cash. And digital wallet usage will go up to 28% during the same period, an increase of 24%.
The growth in China will be more dramatic as e-wallet users will increase by more than 140 million people every year.
One of the challenges for the rest of the world is the reliance on contactless card payment systems. The reason China has high numbers of mobile wallet users is they all but skipped credit cards in the country.
People in other countries are going to have to wean themselves out of using credit cards and get used to mobile wallets.
When it comes to Europe, the UK is the top mobile wallet user at 5%, with Spain and The Netherlands coming at 3%, and France at 1%.
In the Americas Argentina is first at 4%, with the US coming in at 3% followed by Brazil with the same amount, and Canada at 1%.
For the rest of the world India and the UAE were above average at 6%, with Australia at 2%.
Who is Using Mobile Wallets?
According to the analysis from Expert Market, millennials make up 35% of the mobile wallet users around the world.
A further break down of the group reveals 40.4% are high earners, 32.2% medium income, and 27.4% low income.
The report says businesses who renovate their payment infrastructure and adopt new technologies can seize the opportunity this lucrative demographic will provide as they grow in purchasing power.
Take a look at the rest of the data from the Expert Market infographic below.
Image: Depositphotos.com