Mobile Payments Are Easy, Say Users in China

Convenience is key to uptake

August 31, 2016 | Retail & Ecommerce

Convenience is the leading reason that mobile payment users in China make mobile payments, according to Ogilvy & Mather. The July 2016 survey provided significant data on mobile payment users, their motivations and why they conduct mobile purchases.

Another 68% of those surveyed say they use mobile payments so that they don't have to carry cash or bank cards, which can be considered a specific type of convenience.

Nearly 50% of respondents also use mobile payment simply because they’re available.

But for all the mobile payment enthusiasm, users do not necessarily trust it more than any other sort of payment. Just 14% say they use mobile payments because they are more secure than other payment forms.

One way of making mobile payments involve scanning QR codes or other 2-D barcodes at the point of sale (POS). When it comes to purchasing clothing this way, mobile payment users in China were more likely to have done so at a shopping mall than anywhere else.

Over 80% of those who had made a clothing purchase in-store and paid via mobile in the past year said they had done so via a QR code at a shopping mall; nearly three-quarters of respondents had done the same at a retail chain.

But independent retailers didn’t see the same level of engagement, despite mobile payments potentially being a way for smaller firms to accommodate more payment types.

A May 2016 report from Ipsos revealed that nearly 50% of mobile payment users living in tier 1 & 2 cities in China were ages 21 to 29. Another 35% were ages 30 to 39. The average mobile payment user surveyed was age 31.