Mobile and tablet users will make 195 billion mobile commerce transactions annually by 2019, up from 72 billion this year, according to Juniper Research.
The report, "Mobile Commerce Markets: Key Sector Strategies, Opportunities & Forecasts 2014-2019," highest growth rates are expected in the NFC sector where usage is expected to be buoyed by the launch of Apple Pay, together with a host of anticipated deployments by banks using solutions based on HCE (Host Card Emulation) technology.
The highest net increase in transaction volumes, however, will occur in the digital goods sector, fuelled by a surge in micropayments for in-app purchases, notably within arenas such as social gaming.
"Storefronts that have deployed carrier billing solutions have already seen positive results across a range of indicators – higher conversion rates, higher average transaction values, higher transaction volumes. For the first time, they can monetise consumers who would otherwise have been excluded either because they lacked a credit card or because they were unwilling to enter card details online," said Dr. Windsor Holden, the report’s author.
The report noted that there is significant transactional migration from desktop to mobile as consumers increasingly "media-stack" (such as make purchases on their devices while watching TV).
Rather than focusing purely on payments, stakeholders need to emphasise the synergies between mobile payment and loyalty to persuade retailers to become engaged.