43% of US consumers have used a mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet or smartwatch to make an in-store purchase, up from 36% last year, research from location-based mobile platform Retale shows. PayPal takes the number one spot as the most popular mobile payment service.

61% of the 1,000 shoppers polled said they would be using their mobile device to pay for a gift or other item in a retail store during the holiday shopping season — compared to 56% last year — and 63% believe retailers should offer some kind of in-store mobile payment option, compared to 57% who thought so in 2014.

44% are most likely to purchase clothing using their mobile device over the holiday season, 41% are most likely to buy food and 30% said gift cards.

50% said they would most likely use PayPal for in-store mobile payments, followed by their bank’s mobile payment app (27%) and Apple Pay (20%). 17% said they would use Android Pay and 13% said they would most likely use the retailer’s own app.

83% think mobile payments are convenient, compared to 76% last year, while the top two greatest concerns about using in-store mobile payments remain the same: data breaches and privacy (59%) and possible theft or loss of mobile device (55%).

27% indicated a willingness to spend on items between US$50 to US$250 using their mobile device, a seven percentage point increase on 2014. 63% would be most comfortable using mobile payments for items below US$50 while 10% would be comfortable using mobile payment for a purchase over US$250 — down from 12% last year.

Consumer support

“The embrace of mobile pay has been slightly slower than many originally anticipated,” says Pat Dermody, president of Retale. “But the growth that we’re seeing is undeniable, especially over the holidays when consumers seek out the best tools to streamline and simplify their shopping. For many, mobile pay is a big advantage at checkout, and that’s building strong consumer support and propelling adoption upward.

“PayPal and mobile banking apps still own the mobile payments market. As shoppers grow accustomed to using services like Apple Pay and Android Pay, those numbers will shift but there might be too much fragmentation to drive significant increases — at least in the short-term.”

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