A new research report from Berg Insight shows that in-store mobile wallet payments across Europe are expected to grow from less than €100 million (£85 million) in 2012 to €45 billion (£38 billion) in 2017, which is a compound annual growth rate of 275%. This will give mobile wallets 1.6% of all European credit card and debit card payments in 2017.
In North America, mobile wallet users spent $500 million (£320 million) last year. Most of these transactions used the Starbucks smartphone app rather than a traditional banking service. However, ‘universal’ mobile wallets that allow customers to use their existing bank cards are expected to drive in-store mobile purchases to reach $44 billion (£28 billion) by 2017.
Lars Kurkinen, telecom analyst at Berg Insight, said “People do not have a problem with cash or payment cards today. Value-added services that enable new shopping experiences before, during and after payments will be what truly distinguish mobile wallets from the traditional payment instruments. Gaining an early lead in the market can be crucial, as in the long term only a limited number of mobile wallet services will survive in each market due to network effects.”
[Report brochure (pdf)]