This generation isn’t using phones as a payment method as much as others, but another use is growing
When it comes to demographics using mobile wallets the most, the majority of people wouldn’t think that Baby Boomers would be in a top category. That said, when it comes to one specific behavior, they’re participating quite a bit.
It’s true that this isn’t the top generation for using mobile payments
Still, there are far more features available through mobile wallets than making payments by tapping a smartphone at a checkout counter.
Indeed, boomers are using phone-based payment methods to an increasing degree. They’re just not adopting the behavior as fast as younger generations. Still, that figure is growing.
However, where that generation is using that type of app at a rapid rate is for the storage of sensitive documents.
According to “The Mobile Wallet Challenge: Replacing Physical With Digital” research conducted by PYMNTS Intelligence, the preferences in use for these apps greatly depended on generational differences.
Boomers and Gen X are willing to use mobile wallets to replace certain parts of physical ones
The research involved the participation of 2,059 survey respondents. Among those respondents, about 90 percent of Millennials and 89 percent of Gen Z shoppers had used at least one feature of a mobile wallet app. On the other end of the scale, only 49 percent of baby boomers and seniors had done so.
That said while only about half of the younger generations felt that these apps had the potential to functionally replace physical cards and documents, a considerably larger 84 percent of boomers and seniors felt that way, and 87 percent of Gen X consumers felt confident that these apps could entirely replace at least certain primary components of their physical counterparts.
Document storage was particularly appealing to boomers and Gen X.
Nearly half of the Gen X respondents were already using mobile wallets to store documents such as event tickets. Among those in Gen Z, only about a third were doing so.
Around 40 percent of boomers and seniors were storing vaccine cards on their phones, while a similar 38 percent of Gen X respondents were doing so. Bridge Millennials were close at 37 percent, while only 26 percent of Gen Z did so.
Travel was particularly defining, as about half of baby boomers and seniors and 45 percent of Gen X used digital wallets to store airline boarding passes. About one third of Gen Z travelers did the same.