Mobile Wallet Users in the UK and US Trend Younger, Wealthier

Many internet users would like to use their mobile wallets as boarding passes, concert tickets—even ID cards

August 4, 2016 | Retail & Ecommerce

Millennial internet users in the UK and the US are more likely to have used a mobile wallet in the past 3 months than Gen Xers or baby boomers, a June 2016 survey by Urban Airship found. Nearly 70% of internet users ages 18 to 34 had used a mobile wallet in the three months leading up to polling.

About half of Gen Xers (ages 35 to 54) said they had used a mobile wallet, while close to 30% of baby boomers and seniors (ages 55 and older) said the same.

Household income also factored in greatly to whether or not internet users had used a mobile wallet recently. For households where income was less than $60,000, usage was just under 40%. But households making $60,000 or more used it far more frequently—over 60% of users had done so in the past 3 months.

And internet users overwhelmingly use mobile wallets for two features: loyalty rewards and coupons.

Sixty percent of those surveyed had used loyalty features, and another 53% had used coupons. No other feature comes close to those figures. However, there are other features users would like to employ.

More than half (55%), for example, would like to use a boarding pass feature of a mobile wallet. About half of respondents would like to use their mobile wallet as an event ticket. Users truly want a mobile wallet: Almost 55% want to use theirs as an ID card. So while mobile wallets are right now most often used for good economic deals, many internet users in the UK and the US are looking to swap out their physical wallets altogether.

An April 2016 survey by Citi Cards, however, reported that only 21% of internet users in the US were at least somewhat likely to start using a mobile payment app, so the mobile wallet revolution may not be here just yet.