Parks Associates: More Than 25% of U.S. Smartphone Owners Use Payment Apps at Least Once a Month

DALLAS, TX--(Marketwired - Jun 29, 2016) - Parks Associates released new research today showing more than 25% of U.S. smartphone owners use payment apps at least once a month. Context is King: Monetizing Consumer Data for Commerce finds more than three million retailers combined accept Apple Pay and Android Pay, but consumers currently prefer retailer-specific apps, such as the Starbucks payment app, which accepts five million transactions per month. These large retailer apps are able to control all aspects of the payment app experience within their stores.

"Current vendors of digital wallet solutions are promoting in-store payment as a major value proposition for consumer adoption, but retailers large enough to create their own solutions are currently winning most of the adoption," said Harry Wang, Senior Research Director, Parks Associates. "Retailers are hesitant to embrace other payment apps due to four main issues: high upgrade costs of point-of-sales payment terminals; payment apps acting as gatekeepers to their shoppers' data; shoppers' confusion with various mobile payment options; and slow checkout speeds using payment apps vs. credit card swipes."

Context is King: Monetizing Consumer Data for Commerce notes consumers use payment apps mostly for purchasing food and drink, clothes, and tickets for events such as concerts. By supporting payments in these three areas, app developers can reach almost 75% of current payment app users in the U.S., and new digital wallet app developers who targeted this opportunity with loyalty-program wallet apps have had varying degrees of success. Key Ring, for instance, boasts 12 million users for its free namesake app. The company has forged marketing agreements with major brands to serve targeted ads on deals or deliver digital coupons using location-based targeting.

"Although mobile payment complements mobile wallet use nicely, the ability of the mobile wallet to serve as a marketing tool shouldn't be dragged down by slow development of the mobile payment industry," said Chris Tweedt, Research Analyst, Parks Associates.

The most dominant payment app is currently PayPal, which is used by one in five smartphone owners. PayPal boasts an active user base of 179 million worldwide and leads not only in user adoption but also in user spending. Its payment app with the One Touch payment capability is adopted by 7 million consumers and accepted by one million retailers.

For more information about Parks Associates research, contact sales@parksassociates.com. To schedule an interview with an analyst, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com.

About Parks Associates
Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.

The company's expertise includes digital media and platforms, entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services, digital health, mobile applications and services, support services, consumer apps, advanced advertising, consumer electronics, energy management, and home control systems and security.

Each year, Parks Associates hosts industry webcasts, the CONNECTIONS™ Conference Series, Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, and Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer. http://www.parksassociates.com