So far Apple Pay is not resonating with consumers.
At least that’s what the data is telling Jared Schrieber, CEO and co-founder of research firm InfoScout.
Only 13.1% of shoppers that have the newer Apple Inc. mobile devices that work with Apple Pay have ever tried the payment system at a store, according to a June InfoScout study released this week at the Retail Reinvention conference in Chicago.
The study was based on a June survey of approximately 1,500 consumers who have an iPhone compatible with Apple Pay, made a transaction at a store that accepts Apple Pay and use one of InfoScout’s receipt-storing apps: Shoparoo, Receipt Hog, ReceiptBin or Out of Milk.
Apple Pay is Apple Inc.’s mobile payment technology that allows shoppers to tap their iPhone (6 or 6-plus) to a checkout terminal equipped with the Near Field Communication technology required to make a wireless connection with the shopper’s phone. Apple Pay also allows consumers to checkout in apps using their fingerprint. This survey, however, only measured in-store Apple Pay use.
13.1% of consumers is less than InfoScout’s March Apple Pay survey, when 15.1% of Apple Pay-enabled consumers said they tried the mobile payment method. Apple declined to comment on the survey results.
The most common reasons consumers said in the June survey they haven’t ever tried Apple Pay, even though their iPhone is compatible with the technology, were because they are satisfied with their current payment method (37%) and they are not familiar with how to use Apple Pay (31%).
Of the 13.1% of consumers who used Apple Pay, 33% said they use Apple Pay every chance they get, 42% whenever they remember and 23% rarely consider using the technology. Numbers don’t add up to 100% because of rounding.
“It’s not remarkable; It’s not memorable,” Schrieber says. “There needs to be a trigger. There needs need to be some reason to switch.”
Schrieber suggests retailers who do have checkout terminals compatible with Apple Pay put a visual cue to remind consumers that they can use their iPhone to check out.
Other mobile payments executives gathered at the conference cited more reasons why in-store mobile payments are not catching on. One is that these new mobile payment methods are competing with years of muscle memory of swiping a credit card, says Chris Gardner, co-founder of Paydiant Inc., a mobile wallet that stores credit and loyalty cards.
“It’s going to take more than just payments to affect behavior change,” Gardner said. He says a mobile payment option should allow consumers to store loyalty cards as well as payment cards, and offer ways for retailers to promote discounts and other deals to consumers that incite them to use the mobile payment option.
Will Graylin, global co-general manager of Samsung Pay and CEO of LoopPay, says that most consumers won’t switch to paying with their mobile phones until they can pay that way at most stores.
As of June 2015, about 1 million retail locations accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments, and there are about 9 million retail locations in the U.S., according to Thad Peterson, a senior analyst with consulting firm Aite Group.
Follow mobile business journalist April Berthene, associate editor, mobile, at Mobile Strategies 360, @Mobile360April
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