Little Excitement for Mobile Wallets in Germany

But wallet use by younger consumers may signal a changing attitude

December 23, 2016 | Retail & Ecommerce

According to a July 2016 survey of smartphone owners in nine countries by by data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company Aimia, respondents in Germany are less likely—in some cases significantly so—than their peers around the world to use a mobile wallet.

Just 21% of respondents in Germany said that they would be likely or very likely to use a mobile wallet, the lowest rate among the countries studied.

Not surprisingly, Germany also had the lowest percentage of respondents who were current mobile wallet users, at just 4%.

Germany, however, wasn't alone in showing a lack of enthusiasm for mobile wallets. Generally, fewer survey respondents in Western countries said they were very likely or already used mobile wallets than were respondents in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

However, attitudes toward mobile wallets may be changing in Germany, led by younger consumers. According to May 2016 polling of internet users ages 18 to 34 in several countries by LexisNexis, a greater share of respondents in Germany (21%) said they used a mobile wallet than did respondents in any other country studied, including the UK (11%) and the US (12%).

—Ben Clague