33% of consumer brands will integrate payment into their mobile apps by 2015, according to a new report from Gartner. It says the trend will be most noticeable for brands with retail outlets, including the fashion, food & drink, grocery and entertainment sectors.
Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner, said “Many consumer brands have launched branded apps that focus on marketing activities such as offering product information, checking loyalty points, and collecting coupons and offers. A few early adopters have integrated payment functions into their apps. Brands need to help consumers make purchasing decisions in an efficient and personalized way. Branded apps should be good shopping apps in the first place, and payment is only the final step before making the sale. To achieve this, they will use a combination of mobile apps, text messages and Web browsers to engage customers and increase sales. In developed markets, apps will lead the way, whereas in emerging markets text messages are likely to dominate initially.”
The report also looks at a number of other technology applications, predicting that more than half of consumers will use digital cloud services as their primary form of storage for digital content by 2016 - and expecting wearable smart electronics to be an industry worth $10 billion (£6.2 billion) worldwide by the same date.
[Report]