According to a wide-ranging research report from Berg Insight, in-store mobile wallet payments in EU 27+2 is forecasted to grow from less than €0.1bn in 2012 at a compound annual growth rate of 275% to reach €45bn in 2017. This will correspond to 1.6% of the credit card and debit card payments at the end of the forecast period.
Many new projects are now being initiated and by the end of 2013 there will be mobile wallet services commercially live in nearly half of the EU27+2 countries. The companies behind these wallet services include many of Europe’s largest mobile operators, banks and retailers such as T-Mobile, Orange, Telefónica, BNP Paribas, Barclays and Auchan.
In North America, mobile wallet users completed in-store payments for a total of US$ 0.5bn (€0.4bn) during 2012. However, the vast majority of these payments were made using Starbucks’ phenomenally successful smartphone app, whereas mobile wallets that can be used at multiple merchants have yet to gain traction. In the longer term, universal mobile wallets such as those provided by Isis, Google and MCX will drive the majority of the mobile in-store purchase volume, which is expected to reach US$44bn (€33bn) by 2017.
