Mobile transactions now account for 17.5% of all worldwide digital purchases
Smartphones reclaim position as preferred device for mobile shopping
Windows Mobile payments grow rapidly while Blackberry payments almost disappears
BOSTON, MA – Adyen, the global payments solutions company, today announced the most recent findings from its Adyen Global Mobile Payments Index, which showed that mobile payments transactions on its platform from May to August 2013 have increased by 27% worldwide, jumping from 13.8% of all transactions at the end of April 2013 to 17.5% in August 2013. The Index analyzed all mobile transactions completed over its platform for thousands of merchants globally, including Vodafone, Mango, SoundCloud, KLM and PopCap Games.
Smartphones Preferred for Mobile Shopping
The Index found that the overall percentage of worldwide purchases made using mobile phones and tablet devices both increased during this period (Smartphones: from 6.5% to 9.2%; Tablets: from 7.4% to 8.3%). However, in a reversal from the previous Index, the share of tablet devices used for mobile purchases decreased during this period from 53.2% to 47.4% – the lowest percentage since May 2012, while Smartphone usage increased from 46.8% to 52.6% – the highest percentage since May 2012. One possible explanation for this reversal is a change in consumer behavior during the summer vacation season, in which highly-portable Smartphones are much more convenient for on-the-go mobile purchases than less-portable tablet devices.
Adyen’s Global Mobile Payments Index tracks the actual purchases on the platforms and can therefore also provide an insight into the monetization of mobile content by brand. iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) accounted for nearly 75% of all mobile transactions on Adyen’s platform (which equals 13.1% of all transactions, up from 11% at the end of April 2013) and Android devices were responsible for nearly 25% of mobile transactions (4.3% of all transactions, up from 3.1%). Windows Mobile captured .6% of all mobile transactions to BlackBerry’s .3% (.1% of all transactions combined). In the last three months, Windows Mobile grew rapidly, with purchases made from the platform increasing by 20%.
Future Impact of Microsoft’s Nokia Acquisition
With Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia, the brand is now the most important monetization platform for Windows Mobile. Nokia’s hardware represents around 80% of all Windows Mobile devices, which means that Microsoft will now capture revenue from future device sales. The acquisition will also enable Microsoft to further monetize the Windows Phone Apps & Games Store.
From a payments perspective, Nokia hardware is leading the number of purchases made on Windows Mobile (81%), with HTC (13%), Samsung (4%), LG and others (2%) trailing far behind. Nokia’s share of Windows Mobile payments transactions and Windows Mobile devices will increase slightly when Microsoft phases out the other Operating Systems supported by Nokia. Currently, 77% of mobile purchases on Nokia devices are made through Windows Mobile. The remainder is divided between Symbian (15%), Nokia Proprietary (6%) and MeeGo (2%).
Shifting Geographies
With its heavy concentration of mobile users, Europe still leads the world in terms of mobile payment transactions, with nearly 18.2% of all transactions leveraging this channel (up from 15.4% in April). However, the share of mobile payments in North America has increased 49%, surging from 11.2% of all transactions to 16.6%. Mobile transactions in Asia declined from 12.4% to 11.4%. The Index has started tracking mobile transactions in South America, which recorded 4.2% of all transactions via mobile device.
Tablet use in m-commerce continues to grow steadily, and have surpassed Smartphone use in Asia and South America. In Europe, tablet use has nearly caught up to Smartphones, representing an 8.4% share of total transactions to the Smartphone’s 9.7%. In North America, Smartphones are still the primary mobile transaction device, with 10.8% of total transactions via phone and nearly 5.8% via tablet. In Asia, tablet use has eclipsed Smartphones, 6.3% to 5.1% respectively, but in South America, tablet transactions (2.8%) are twice that of Smartphones (1.4%).
Mobile Market Share by Sector
Adyen’s data revealed mobile’s penetration into various sectors that are traditionally dominated by Point-Of-Sale or online transactions. (Note that the figures in parenthesis indicate that sector’s growth since the last Mobile Payments Index).
· Travel (+20.5%): Mobile purchases increased from 20% to 24.1% of all travel-related transactions, with Smartphones edging out tablets 13.27% to 10.9%, respectively. Adyen notes that the travel sector still holds the highest percentage of mobile transaction of any sector. The travel sector has been quick to embrace mobile applications and services that enable shoppers to transact on-the-go.
· Retail (+16.75%): Consumers use their mobile devices for nearly 17.5% of all retail purchases during this period, up from the 15% reported in the previous Index. Previously, tablet use for retail purchases was nearly double that of Smartphones (11.63% and 5.85% respectively), indicating a clear consumer preference for its larger, more user-friendly screen when shopping via mobile device.
Ticketing Services (+22%): Mobile ticketing purchases for concerts, movies, sports and theatrical events represented 18.3% of all ticketing purchases, up from 15%. Smartphone use in mobile ticketing was nearly twice that of tablet use (12.1% vs. 6.2%), indicating a strong consumer preference to pay on the spot at the event entrance, avoid queues and receive their electronic ticket directly on the phone to be scanned at the entrance.
Digital Goods (+10.3%): Mobile digital content purchases, including books, movies, music, software, and services, increased from 15% to 16.5%. The share of Smartphone purchases in this category increased significantly — by more than 25% this period — (to 10.9%), while tablet use decreased more than 19.5% (to 5.6%). Adyen attributes this to increased sales of larger-screen Smartphones, which are increasingly being used for watching films, reading books, etc. Smartphones are also more convenient than tablets for downloading and listening to music on the go. In addition, many tablets only connect to the Internet via wi-fi, which does not enable purchasing digital goods on the go.
· Gaming (-5.5%): Of all the sectors covered, only gaming showed an overall decline in mobile purchases, to 8.5% down from 9%. Smartphones, however, continue to be the platform of choice, representing 6.7% of mobile gaming transactions.
“Mobile commerce continued its significant growth with a 27 percent increase in transactions over the last four months, and double-digit growth across almost every sector,” explained Roelant Prins, Chief Commerce Officer, Adyen. “As our data sample increases in size and scope, clear patterns for mobile purchases are emerging – such as the increasing importance of tablet for retailers and Smartphone payment for the ticketing industry. Armed with this data, merchants can tailor their sales strategies to increase mobile conversions.”
About the Index
The Adyen Global Mobile Payments Index is published quarterly and based on Adyen global payment transaction data. This Index has been created to track the rapid evolution of mobile payments and provide insight into mobile payment trends for different market sectors and geographies. Adyen process payments for more than 3,500 medium-, large- and enterprise-sized organizations, many of which operate multi-national businesses. In 2012, Adyen processed more than $10 billion in online, mobile and point-of-sale payment transactions worldwide.
About Adyen
Headquartered in Amsterdam, with offices in Boston, San Francisco, London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Sao Paolo and Singapore, Adyen is a leading, multichannel payment company. Adyen provides a fully outsourced payment solution, built on over 15 years of industry experience, which enables merchants accept payments from anywhere in the world. Adyen supports all relevant sales channels, including online, mobile and Point-of-Sale (POS), and can process 227 different payment methods, 187 transaction currencies and 14 settlement currencies used across six continents. The Adyen solution is highly scalable and can be completely customized to meet any merchant requirement. Adyen works with many global customers including Uber, SoundCloud, Getty Images, Mango, KLM, PopCap Games, and Vodafone. For further information, please visit www.adyen.com.
