International IoT research firm announces new industry report examining mobile payment industry

Parks Associates announced new research todayshowing PayPal is the clear market leader in consumer usage for mobile payment apps. Reassessing Mobile Payments: A Duopoly or Oligopoly?notes 18% of smartphone owners have used a mobile payment app. Among all U.S. smartphone users, 12% use the PayPal app, 9% use a retail-branded app, and 4% use Apple Pay.

“While PayPal is the clear market share leader, more merchants are requesting information from Apple Pay than any other mobile payment solution,” said Chris Tweedt, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “Apple has added a ‘Pay with Apple Pay’ button into its Safari browser, and the company has signed up 21 of the top 100 online merchants, with others to come. Likewise, Google has launched an Android Pay function into its mobile Chrome browser. PayPal’s counterstrategy is to leverage its large customer base and Venmo’s popularity to expand into in-store payments and earn revenue from transaction fees.”

Venmo is PayPal’s social networking payment app that allows consumers to make peer-to-peer money transfers regardless of OS. Among the retail-branded apps, Starbucks is the leader (7% of U.S smartphone users), with Dunkin’ Donuts second (3%). The other top mobile payment apps for all smartphone owners include Android Pay (3%) and Samsung Pay (2%).

“Merchants must be ready to accept mobile payments because those that wait will be at a competitive disadvantage,” Tweedt said. “Marketing efforts from PayPal and Apple to promote their solutions will increase consumer awareness, adoption, and spending. Users don’t spend much money with mobile apps today, but we expect to see a large increase – as much as 150% – in mobile payment users and transaction values over the next five years.”

Payment app users report spending $98 per month using PayPal, $75 per month with Apple Pay, and $56 per month with Android Pay. Parks Associates forecasts that transaction value will grow over seven times its current value in the next five years.

Reassessing Mobile Payments: A Duopoly or Oligopoly?, now available for purchase, reports over 67% of mobile payment app users use only one mobile payment app. Merchants request Apple Pay much more than they request PayPal for in-store payments (67% vs. 8%), and Apple Pay and Android Pay are trying to erode PayPal’s market share in online mobile payments by placing checkout buttons in their browsers. Facebook also plans on enabling in-person and remote payments through Facebook Messenger. 

Reassessing Mobile Payments: A Duopoly or Oligopoly? analyzes market competition in the mobile payment industry, focusing on business strategies of payment platform developers. The report also examines external factors that will shape the market adoption trajectory, including merchants’ adoption of EMV standards, e-commerce growth, and the impact of payment network providers’ business strategies.

For more information, visit www.ParksAssociates.com. To schedule a meeting with Chris Tweedt or request specific research data, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.comor 720-987-6614.

About Parks Associates

Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com

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