Survey: Consumers' payment preferences keep shifting

Slowly but surely, consumers are becoming open to the idea of switching from leather wallets to an electronic version.



According to the new “Let’s Get Digital” consumer survey from Citi Retail Services, digital wallet usage has increased by 20% in the past two years. Thirty-five percent of consumers used digital wallets at the end of 2014, and that figure rose to 55% by the end of the year 2015.



Additionally, 66% of respondents said they could be convinced to adopt a digital wallet in their everyday lives if they were educated on the benefits.



Of course, a sizable percentage of consumers have still never used a digital wallet product. Those who have avoided the digital wallet trend gave the following reasons:



• Easier to pay with another method such as cash or credit card (47%, up from 41% in 2014).



• Don’t see any benefit from using a digital wallet (45%, up from 35% in 2014).



• Concerned about the security of payments (45%, down from 52% in 2014).



• Don’t know much about digital wallet tools (44%, up from 42% in 2014).



Retailers can take heart in decreasing levels of concern about consumer privacy. The other leading reasons all focus on ease of use and lack of consumer understanding about why they should adopt a new payment method. Consumer outreach, including explaining how easy using most digital wallet application actually is, will be critical to spurring continued growth.