Deloitte: This mobile consumer activity is on the rise

Consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones for one specific retail-related purpose.



According to the Deloitte 2015 Global Mobile Consumer Survey, the use of mobile devices to make in-store payments has nearly quadrupled in the past year. In-store mobile payments have increased from 5% of total in-store payments 2014 to 18% in 2015.



The most popular uses of mobile payments were for public parking (19%), gas station purchases (18%), coffee shops, and fast food dining (17% each). The 25-to-34-year-old demographic is driving the majority of this activity for in-store purchases at 36%.



At the same time, half of consumers said that they don’t view mobile in-store payments as secure enough. Moreover, 36% of consumers simply do not see any benefits to using mobile phones for in-store payments.



Other notable findings include:



• Sixty-one percent of American consumers indicate that they sometimes, if not often, use their smartphone while out shopping.



• More than one-third of all consumers use their smartphones predominately without the prompt of an incoming message or alert.



• Four percent of consumers in the U.S. look at their phones more than 200 times a day.



• Nearly half (48%) of consumers check their phones up to 25 times per day.



• Ownership for fitness bands doubled year-over-year, with approximately 10% of consumers owning a fitness band.



While more consumers own fitness bands than smartwatches, smartwatches drive greater usage. Seventy-four percent of consumers use their smartwatch on a weekly basis, compared to 66% who use their fitness band weekly.



“We believe that education of consumers on the benefits of advanced security features of some forms of mobile payment technologies could yield additional growth opportunities for the sector,” said Craig Wigginton, vice chairman and U.S telecommunications sector leader, Deloitte & Touche LLP.