Mobile wallets are set to become more popular bit by bit across the globe over the next four years, according to a study by Technavio, which cites the much more rapid growth of “m-commerce,” or mobile shopping, as one of the primary factors that will bring consumers to mobile wallets.
According to the report:
In addition to offering easy access to a variety of products even from remote locations, m-commerce also offers flexibility and easy payment services to customers. This enhances the brand recall value and benefits for vendors in the long-term. As a result, there will be an increased adoption of mobile phone wallets among m-commerce companies, which will drive the growth of the market in the coming years.
Retail stores and transportation will be the first two use cases mobile wallet users will flock to for greater adoption, claims the report—a conclusion seemingly supported by the growing popularity of contactless payments for transportation in countries like Australia and the U.K., as well as the rising popularity of mobile shopping and payments across the globe.
Retail was the dominant area in 2016; unsurprising to those who remember the success of services like Alipay on discounted shopping days like China’s Single’s Day.
While mobile shopping has become more popular around the globe, it’s been particularly adopted in markets like China along with other emerging technology such as wearables—at the moment, that technology is doing much better in China than it is in markets like the U.S., where users have not been particularly quick to adopt.
The study also predicts key vendors for growth, with Alibaba Group—the company behind Alipay—at the top of the list, beating out PayPal, the most widely used digital wallet within the U.S. The list of vendors also includes Visa, Mastercard, Samsung, and Google.