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.
How to Ensure Secure Smartphone Mobile Payments
Whether you’re a consumer, developer or investor delving into mobile payments technologies for personal or professional use, There are a number of important factors to consider when evaluating mobile payment technologies in the coming year.
Here’s your cheat sheet for owning your mobile transaction financial health. Ensure that your credit card information is:
- Only sent to the venue’s POS system, rather than passing through third party services
- Only stored on your phone, where it’s safest, and not in the cloud
- Always encrypted when it is sent to the POS system, where the transaction is taking place
Read the full article, via CNN.
U.S. Mobile Shopping on eBay Grows 127% to $5 Million
The second Sunday in December is a peak shopping day for mobile shoppers. In the U.S. mobile gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew 127 percent over the same Sunday last year, generating nearly $5 million in GMV; worldwide, mobile GMV grew 165 percent generating $13 million in GMV. [Read more…]
PayPal Reports 310% Increase in Mobile Shopping on Black Friday
As iPhone, Android phones, and other smartphone sales take off, online shopping is showing a commensurate move to the mobile platform.
PayPal has released figures for Black Friday shopping sales, showing about 27% increase in overall Black Friday 2010 sales volume versus 2009 figures.
Even more notable, the company reported over 300% increase in mobile shopping for the same period versus the previous year.
Other data of interest:
- The company reports that figures show the shopping season began on Monday, November 15, 2010.
- Most popular Black Friday shopping time: 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PST.
- Black Friday 2010 total payment volume was 21% higher than Thanksgiving 2010 volume.
The PayPal numbers are a good indicator of overall trends, as PayPal processes 16.5% percent of U.S. eCommerce and 15 percent of global eCommerce.
Source: Business Wire
Mobile Shopping for Holiday 2010 Skyrockets
With some Black Friday reports coming in from retailers, anecdotal reports have shown significant increases in mobile shopping activity following Thanksgiving this year.
According to the WSF blog, Ruelala.com attributed 19% of sales this weekend to mobile phones, a 10x increase over last year. Another online retailer, Gilt.com said that about 15% of total revenue came from mobile commerce over the same period, while eBay reported a 30% rise in mobile activity over the previous year.