Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. This 78-page report, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” (March, 2015) examines trends in the adoption and use of mobile banking, payments, and shopping behavior and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects consumers’ interaction with financial institutions.
Why the High Abandon Rate for Mobile Payment Transactions
A Harris Interactive survey conducted earlier this year found that two out of three consumers who have tried to make a purchase on their smartphone or tablet have stopped short because of various snags during the checkout process. Other reports have found mobile shopping cart abandonment rates exceeding 90 percent – some 20 points higher than on larger devices.Explanations typically range from hard-to-navigate mobile carts and mobile sites that aren’t optimized to fit the smaller mobile form factor, to problems such as high shipping costs, long delivery times and “window shopping” behaviors that put a damper on mobile and non-mobile commerce alike.One factor that many merchants and analysts miss, however, is the role of the mobile payment system itself.
Most mobile payment platforms still require too many steps to checkout, lack flexible payment models, have limited ability to offer promotional features like couponing, and completely ignore the realities of selling in a global economy.
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