Australian consumers are already using their mobile devices to make payments on a regular basis. But a large number Australian businesses aren’t even ready to accept mobile payments. Read on to find out more.
I went to Oz Comic-Con this year and spent a lot of money. It was easy to do so because pretty much every merchant that set up shop there accepted either Eftpos or payments made through mobile devices that they carried with them. They even directed me to their online stores and I promptly perused more of their merchandise on my smartphone. I remember even just a few years ago, most stalls at conventions were cash-only and it really shows how mobile payments have matured.
According to the PayPal mCommerce Index, which measures the state of mobile commerce, 71% of Australian consumers already use their mobile devices to make payments but only 49 per cent of businesses are optimised to accept mobile payments. Nearly one-third of businesses said they have no plans to cater for mobile transactions. Just over a quarter of online businesses don’t make any sales through mobile devices.
“Australia has one of the highest levels of mobile penetration globally with 80% of the Australian population owning a smartphone, so I was surprised to discover the low level of business readiness to accept sales effectively via mobile devices,” PayPal Australia managing director Libby Roy said.
“The mobile payments landscape is fast-evolving and the Index reveals how habituated Australian consumers have become to mobile shopping with more than a third of us making mobile payments at least once a week — a figure that jumps to 47% for the under 35s.
“So although online businesses may think they don’t need to optimise for mobile now, they will have to if they want to stay competitive in the near future.”
You can read the full PayPal mCommerce Index report
Comments
7 responses to “Australian Businesses Slow To Adopt Mobile Payments Despite Strong Demand”
you’d have to be stupid to run an online business and not be 100% mobile optimised at this point, it was already stupid a few years ago.
but i’m not at all surprised physical retail stores are slow on the uptake, most of them struggle to keep a working eftpos terminal on the go and those that do still charge you to use it, never mind any of them bothering to get into mobile payments, i don’t know how easy/hard it is but for the average punter there are many competing companies in the mix and from the outside it looks complicated, even if its really not.
on that note i use mobile payments where ever i can and will avoid a store that i find doesnt support it, patiently waiting the day my wallet is absolete
I deeply resent stores that only accept cash, to the point I would choose to shop elsewhere even if I have enough money on me. Even one-man bands at a niche convention can support mobile payments for crying out loud. I don’t see any legitimate reason for shop owners to stick with the cash-only model.
Cash leaves you at a higher risk of theft and staff mistakes, takes time and effort to manage and count, plus it’s not even free to bank.
On the other hand, if you don’t declare all your cash earnings you can dodge the tax man. This is legitimately the only benefit of cash for small business, tax dodging.
80% of Aussies may have smartphones but not all of them would be capable of paywave.
I used it once on my phone to give it a go, it would definitely be handy if I forgot my wallet but I have no intention of using it instead of my bank card.
I always have my mobile internet and NFC turned off when not in use so for me it is more of a pain to turn all that on to make the payment rather than getting my card out of my wallet.
Totally agree with bagging out places that accept cash only, or have a minimum for eftpos, it is a pain in the ass and has no place in 2016!
Christ I don’t even like using Paypal for ebay. Seems they re-design the UI slightly every couple of months to try and trick you into using pay later through your bank account when I just want to use credit card.
The only mobile payments I want in store are the likes of Apple Pay and Android Pay. Apple Pay is the first I’ve used that is legitimately easier than using a card. The only disadvantage I’ve had is that plenty of places aren’t set up for Amex nfc payments.
Previously I had one of those stupid Commbank stickers, and with the absolute and total lack of any security, it didn’t take long before I pulled it off and never used it again. I did throw it on the bottom of my keepcup for a laugh while getting coffee for a week.
I’m a VERY small purveyor of clothing and having the ability to take tap and go payments (and consequently, mobile payments) has been infinitely more successful than only accepting cash. You can accept mobile payments relatively easily now most savings accounts use visa debit and paywave. A Paypal tap and go card reader is about $150 and the transaction fees are lower than regular payments. Works just like an eftpos terminal but is synced via bluetooth to your phone/tablet. Life saver.
I find it frustrating that Samsung Pay has not expanded the cards accessible. It is a superior system working on more machines yet they only use Citibank and Amex Corporate!