By Rosemary Iwuala
The total number of unique contactless mobile payment users will reach one billion globally for the first time in 2024, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
Usage rates are also expected to rise by 60 percent, shooting up from 782 million users in 2022.
The latest report from the research company, titled ‘Contactless Payments: Key Opportunities, Emerging Trends & Market Forecasts 2022-2027′, says that increased investment in contactless acceptance infrastructure, especially in emerging regions, will be a core growth driver, through which over 200 million new contactless payment users will be added to the market by 2024.
The research predicts that increasing consumer demand for convenient and frictionless payment methods will also bolster growth. A reason mobile payment is perfect for this is because a consumer would not need to carry multiple payment cards, just their smartphone.
In conjunction with this, the report stated that the rise in mobile payment users correlates to the growing smartphone ownership in emerging markets.
It further said that smartphone penetration rates among emerging regions, such as Asia Pacific, will exceed 99 percent by 2024. This will enable an additional 67 million individuals to adopt mobile payments.
“NFC mobile payment vendors must maximise convenience by offering further payment options, such as BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later), to encourage greater adoption. BNPL allows consumers to pay in several installments; making high-value purchases more affordable,” said research author, Jordan Rookes.
With mobile payments set to become a major payment method, Juniper Research offered some advice to companies.
It stated that NFC mobile payment vendors should encourage consumers to switch from mobile money to NFC payments, by educating them on the benefits.
Additionally, it stated that the advent of soft POS, which supports smartphones to accept NFC payments, will increase the contactless acceptance infrastructure. These soft POS systems also mean lower costs compared to traditional contactless POS, it added.
In another payment sector report from Juniper Research earlier this year, it stated that contactless payment transactions will reach $10trn by 2027. This will be a rise from $4.6trn in 2022.
