More than half of them (57%) buy expensive goods, while nearly two thirds (64%) pay their bills on mobile devices.
In Europe, the number of consumers regularly using a mobile device for payments has tripled from 18% to 54% since 2015. Consumers say they are as comfortable making more expensive purchases on mobile devices as they are with everyday payments.
“The study, which surveyed more than 36,000 online consumers in 19 European countries, reveals how consumer adoption of digital payments has shifted dramatically in the last 12 months. One year ago, 38% of the people surveyed said they had never used a mobile device to make payments and had no plans to do so. Today, that number has dropped to 12%,” Visa said in a statement.
The research also shows that mobile banking activity is increasing across all age groups. For the first time, more than half of European respondents in all age brackets are using mobile banking. Whilst millennials remain the most prolific category, other age groups are rapidly catching up. With a growth rate of 33%, the highest growth rate is the 55-64 year olds, while millennials 18-34 have a growth rate of 24%.
“The data confirm that the future of digital payments is already here. Consumers all over Europe, including Romania, are adopting the most innovative payment methods. For Visa, smartphones and wearable devices represent the start of a wider process, by which millions of new connected devices allow the integration of daily transactions into almost any technology,” said Catalin Cretu, general manager Visa Europe Romania, Croatia, Malta and Slovenia.
The increase in engagement with digital payments coincides with greater adoption of contactless technology. The research indicates that, across all age groups, contactless payments are now the norm. In Romania, 42% of the people surveyed said they used contactless cards this year.