Report: 1 in 4 mobile users to make NFC payments by 2017
31 May, 2012
category: NFC
A new report from Juniper Research has found that more than one in four mobile phone users in the U.S. and Western Europe will use an NFC-enabled handset to pay for goods in-store by 2017, compared with less than 2% in 2012.
According to Juniper, NFC payments will reach $180 billion worldwide by 2017 as NFC becomes a standard feature on most handsets. During this time, NFC will overtake other forms of mobile payment due to the “tremendous” user appeal of tapping to pay, coupled with NFC’s ability to offer new retail marketing and sales opportunities for merchants.
The report warns, however, that NFC retail payments services must be deployed with a fully integrated and tested customer care channel. NFC payments are a complex fusion of mobile, financial and retail technology; a single point of contact to take responsibility for resolving a problem quickly and efficiently must be established or users will desert the service, according to Juniper.
“NFC retail payments are still at an early stage, but hold great promise,” said report co-author Windsor Holden. “In 2011 we saw significant strides made within the ecosystem such as the launch of Google Wallet, the announcements of more mobile wallet consortia and the supply of an increasing number of NFC-enabled smartphone models. NFC is now impacting the public consciousness and we expect a rapid market expansion from 2012 onwards.”
Click here to access the report.