Mobile payments adoption has many moving parts. By focusing on a specific segment of consumers or a certain type of payment, players in the mobile payments ecosystem can greatly improve their chances of success.

The MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index advances the industry’s understanding of the current state of mobile payments in 34 markets around the world. Among the six components analyzed, consumer readiness emerged as one of the most critical. Without interest from consumers, all efforts to develop mobile payments offerings are for naught. In the case of Australia, our study reveals that one particular segment is ready for one particular form of mobile payments now: Young, affluent men focused on mobile commerce.

Consumer Readiness in the Index gauges familiarity with, willingness to use, and current usage of three types of mobile payments: Person-to-person (P2P), mobile payments at the point of sale (POS) including the use of near field communication, and mobile web commerce (m-commerce). While the Index average for Consumer Readiness is relatively low across all three payment types, Australia largely performs above the Index average; Australian consumers show the greatest familiarity with, willingness to use, and current usage of mobile commerce.

MasterCard’s hypothesis is that m-commerce is popular now because, essentially, it enables consumers to use a familiar form of shopping and payment—e-commerce—on a new device. This familiarity lowers the barriers that new forms of shopping naturally present. M-commerce is an entry point into a wider world of mobile payments.

Demographically, the segments of Australian consumers who display the greatest readiness for mobile payments are the youth, the affluent, and men. These segments are typically found among early adopters of new technologies, and this finding is consistent across many countries in the Index. In Australia, all three of these segments show higher readiness for mobile payments than the Index average.

Over time and with the benefit of savvy marketing, mobile payments will expand beyond the current skew to broader bands of the Australian market. Having a solid understanding of the current state of Australian consumer attitudes toward mobile payments is the best way to capitalize on the future.

 

Topics: Payments Strategy