UK mobile payments to top £1.2 billion by 2020

A study of 12,015 consumers has found that smartphones are on track to replace cash and cards as the preferred method of payment over the next five years.

The research says that mobile payments in the UK will increase by a factor of three over the next five years, and hit £1.2 billion in weekly spending.

The report also notes that adoption of the mobile payment method will also increase with one in four consumers saying they expect to make payments on their phones on a daily basis by 2020. That figure is quite an increase from today’s one in twelve.

The report, conducted by Visa Europe, also found that sixty per cent of consumers expect to make a mobile payment at least once a week by 2020.

More interestingly, not only will people use mobile payments more, people will also actually spend more. By 2020, the average shopper plans to spend £27 per week using mobile payments. That is £10 more than this year’s figure. Moreover, just under a quarter of consumers (24 per cent) have actually said they planned to spend £50 per week.

The report noted the trend showing how the purchases consumers make on mobiles are already becoming more and more expensive, with electronics (23 per cent) and clothes (22 per cent) being in the top five mobile purchases.

However, Visa actually thinks these numbers – even the tripling of the weekly spend – could be “rather conservative” and that the rate of adoption will be much higher.

“This is particularly true when you look at the growth in contactless usage, which saw European usage grow by 2x and spend grow by 3x over the last 12 months. Contactless and online commerce enhancements have been key in paving the way for the next generation of mobile payment technology,” said Jeremy Nicholds, Executive Director for Mobile, Visa Europe.

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