More consumers are seeing their connected devices like smartphones and tablets as the way to make the payment process faster and easier. This is one of the findings in the study conducted by PYMNTS and bank card issuer Visa. The study was conducted through a survey of 2,584 consumers with smartphones in the United States. The subjects were asked about their devices and how they used it. They were also asked to fill up a diary that tracks their purchasing patterns and how the connected devices are used in these purchases. From the chosen pool of samples, it is found that a consumer typically owns more than 4 connected devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops, activity trackers and more.
Consumers are still constantly looking for ways to improve the payment process. More than sixty percent of the connected consumers feel that the entire process of payment, whether online or in physical stores, tends to be tedious and unproductive. Part of the process that the connected consumer feel is unproductive is the checkout process and over the counter payments. To lessen the time spent on this portion of paying for stuff, more than 66 percent of consumers now use their smartphones to pay for the items they buy in physical stores on a daily basis. These include paying for breakfast meals, commuting, and purchasing cooking supplies. While smartphones and other connected devices already provide a seamless way to pay, there are still others who seek even easier ways to buy things. For example, consumers who own more than six devices tend to be interested in appliances that are capable of auto-refilling and auto-payment.
While the ease of use has prompted many consumers to use their connected devices for payment, around 76 percent of consumers are still worried about data privacy and almost the same number of people are also worried about the security of their purchase data. Concerns over security and privacy may have reflected on the public’s perception on the use of smartphones as a payment tool. Only 38 percent of consumers actually feel that their smartphone could provide the best possible payment experience. Given these concerns, more than three-quarters of surveyed consumers still trust either their payment card issuer or their banks to provide the best possible connected device payment solutions. The most popular providers of connected device payment solutions, which is Google and Apple, only get a third of the support the banks and card issuers are getting.