Adyen has delivered findings from its third Mobile Payments Index covering the period September to December 2013.
The Index shows mobile payments accounted for 19.5% of all transactions worldwide in December, a growth of 55% year-over-year, up from 12.6% the previous December. New to this Index, Adyen has pulled out data showing not only the volume of transactions made per type of mobile device, but also the average transaction value across a selection of industry sectors. This data shows tablets to be the preferred device for higher value transactions over smartphones and even PCs in some cases.
The consistent rise in the popularity of mobile as a payment medium is reflective of the increased efforts of Adyen customers to optimize their payments pages for mobile platforms, both via mobile web and in-app.
Tablets are King of High Value Purchases
Adyen looked at the variation in both volume and value of payments over mobile across five key industry verticals: travel, digital goods, gaming, retail and ticketing. Uptake in use of mobile devices to make payments over the last four months has been rapid across all sectors. Travel saw an increase of 22% in mobile payments and beats every other vertical with nearly 30% of all transactions made over smartphone or tablet. Gaming has seen the greatest increase in mobile payments over the last four months, up by 35% to 12%. Mobile transaction volume in retail has also risen by a third, up to 23%. Ticketing now sees 20% of transactions on mobile devices, up by 12%, and digital goods payments are 18% mobile, up by 9%.
For all verticals except retail, smartphone payments outweighed tablet payments in volume. Yet tablets showed comparatively far higher average transaction value than smartphones or even PCs in the majority of cases. Of the five verticals, travel is the only one to show PCs dominating over tablets in terms of transaction value, despite having the highest share of mobile payments in volume. This suggests that users are more comfortable making pricier airfare purchases on larger-screen devices.
Mobile payment index reveals mobile payments climb to 19.5% of transactions globally
Transaction volume:
- Travel: smartphones 17.5%; tablets 11.9%
- Retail: tablets 15.9%; smartphones 7.1%
- Ticketing: smartphones 13%, tablets 7.5%
- Gaming: smartphones 9%; tablets 3%
- Digital goods: smartphones 13%; tablets 5%
Average transaction value:
- Gaming: Although 82% of transactions were made on a PC, compared with 3% on tablet devices, the average transaction value was markedly higher on tablet devices at €45 ($62), compared with €37 ($51) on PCs and €33 ($45) on smartphones
- Retail: tablet €89 ($122); PC €67 ($92); smartphone €66 ($90)
- Ticketing: tablet €46 ($63); smartphone €43 ($59); PC €44 ($60)
- Digital Goods: tablet €26 ($36); PC €25 ($34); smartphone €22 ($30)
- Travel: PC €131 ($179); tablet €89 ($122); smartphone €44 ($60)
The retail industry stands out in that it recorded a higher transaction volume for tablets than for smartphones (and the highest share of tablet transaction volume in any other vertical) and it recorded the largest average transaction value for tablets comparative to smartphones and PCs in its vertical. This suggests that the retail industry leads the way in improving the tablet user experience for ecommerce, where a key part of the picture is streamlining the payment process to encourage more conversions.
The trend of high transaction values among tablet purchases could indicate a link between spontaneity and low value purchases, versus enjoyable browsing experience and higher value purchases that require longer time for consideration and decision-making. The tablet, with its combination of a bigger screen, touch interface and portability may account for a better browsing experience and longer shopping sessions. It may also lead to it being used more during leisure time, when people are making purchases they care about more, as opposed to being used at work or during commuting, when smartphones and PCs may be used for spontaneous, lower value purchases.
“Ease of payment is vital for merchants to keep up with the evolution of mobile devices and consumer behaviour. Businesses are focusing on enhancing their payment interface over mobile channels to make it responsive, simple and clear for users,” explained Roelant Prins, Chief Commerce Officer, Adyen. “That’s why having access to data on transaction volume and value is highly useful for merchants looking to optimise the user experience across mobile channels. It’s fascinating to look at a trend like tablets emerging as the leading device for more expensive purchases, and using this knowledge strategically to increase conversion rates.”
Device Wars
Apple remains the most popular platform for mobile payments. The iPad won the highest share of 2014 holiday shopping transactions, taking 41% of mobile transactions over the September to December period, and in second place was the iPhone, at 31.6%. Android smartphones proved more popular than Android tablets, capturing 20% of mobile transactions versus 6.6%. Windows Mobile devices have made up a steady 0.6% of mobile transactions since June 2013. BlackBerry hardly figured in the last four months, taking just 0.2%, down from 0.3% in the previous four months.
Looking at smartphones as a category, Android looks to be steadily closing the gap on the iPhone’s lead. In April 2013, iPhone had a 68.5% share of mobile transactions, compared with 30.7% on Android. By August it was 62.5% to 35.9%, and in December 2013, iPhone share stood at 60% and Android at 38.6%. This reflects the increasing number of Android devices available, and in particular the growing popularity of Samsung, which shipped more than 300 million devices in 2013 and whose sales accounted for one in three smartphones sold that year.
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