Consumers may have been the first to embrace mobile technology for payment services, but now small businesses are coming on board in a big way. According to a December 2014 study conducted by Rocket Lawyer, of the United States small business owners (SBOs) surveyed:

  • 4 percent indicated that they would consider accepting mobile payment technology, such as Apply Pay, Google Wallet, or Square.
  • 20 percent of SBOs indicated no interest in the technology.
  • 17 percent indicated that they were not sure if they would adopt the technology.

Apple Pay users say that checkout is smoother and SBOs who were open to mobile payments understood this. Most of respondents—70 percent—saw the technology as providing a smother payment experience, according to eMarketer. Of these:

  • Nearly 40 percent indicated that accepting payment services would help them remain competitive with consumers and other businesses.
  • 3 percent indicated that mobile payments would help them to reach new customers.
  • 1 percent indicated the technology would provide additional opportunities to compete with other business.

Of those SBOs who did not express an interest in mobile payment technology:

  • 46 percent indicated that mobile payment technology would not work for their business.
  • 30 percent indicated that they did not believe their customers would use the technology.
  • 20 percent (less than 20 percent) indicated that they do not understand how the technology works.
  • 14 percent indicated security as an issue. Of these, approximately 8 percent indicated that credit/debit cards are more convenient and 4 percent indicated that they did not want to be the first SBO to use the technology.

According to an August 2014 study conducted by TSYS, nearly half—48 percent—of U.S. Internet users sought to make in-store purchases with their phones, wrote eMarketer:

  • 21 percent: Scanning a bar or QR code with a mobile phone in-store.
  • 14 percent: Tapping phones at the point of sale.
  • 13 percent: Pushing a button on a phone’s screen or keypad.

According to eMarketer, the growth of mobile payment users will remain fairly strong in 2015 at 41.7 percent. A mobile payment user is defined as one who has made at least one “proximity payment transaction” in the past six months.

Next year is considered a pivotal year given the growing acceptance by merchants of an array of mobile payment methods, coupled with consumers experience and comfort increasing with mobile point-of-sale technology. In fact, users are expected to rise to 36.2 million in 2016, which is an increase of 60.5 percent year over year and is also more than double what was seen in 2014. By 2018, more than one in four U.S. smartphone users are expected to be paying using mobile technology, eMarketer estimates.

Source:

Will SBOs Invest In Mobile Payments? eMarketer; February 12, 2015.