A multinational study by Aite Group and ACI Worldwide finds cell phones are the drivers of the demand for these services.
ACI Worldwide and Aite Group collaborated on a massive study that examined the adoption rates of mobile payments and banking in 14 different countries and has come up with an all new consumer category, which they have dubbed “Smartphonatics”, which is responsible for driving those two services.
This group includes individuals whose behaviors toward making payment transactions, financial decisions and actions, and shopping have altered because of the fact that they now own smartphones.
The report identified significant differences between regular consumers and Smartphonatics.
For example, while 80 percent of individuals within the Smarthphonatics category have used their devices for the purposes of banking, only one in every three people who are not in that group said that they had done so. At the same time, 70 percent of those within the consumer category had used their devices for mobile payments, while fewer than one in four who were not in the category had done so.
The report on the study stated that the behaviors of Smartphonatics are shaping today’s mobile marketplace.
It is that group which is, according to the report, primarily responsible for the determining the needs and the requirements for solutions for mobile payments and banking purposes, and they are also the ones who are setting the bar for how retailers and financial institutions will be required to respond to those expectations over the next five years in order to maintain their competitive status.
According to an Aite Group senior analyst, Ron Shevlin, “Smartphonatics enthusiastically use their smartphones when they shop for products and services as well as when they interact with their banks.” He added that “They exist around the world and while they may be more concentrated in some countries it is quite clear they are an emerging consumer force.”
Shevlin also explained that they are the driving force behind the adoption of mobile payments and smartphone banking and will be a critical element in the way that changes are made in that channel. He said that if retail and financial institutions don’t keep up with the expectations of this group, then they should expect to be left behind.
