The gross transaction value of payments made via mobile phone for digital goods such as music, tickets and games and physical goods like books will exceed US$300bn globally by 2013.
A region-by-region analysis by Juniper Research found there is a significant and immediate opportunity for mobile payment services, systems, software and supporting services to underpin the processing of this value of payment transactions by 2013.
“Merchants in North America and western Europe are just starting to realise the potential of a mobile web presence as a fourth channel to market,” explained report author, Howard Wilcox.
The report predicted that global annual gross transaction value will grow over five times by 2013 to hit US$300bn.
The ticketing segment will be driven by consumer usage on rail, air and bus networks, as well as sports and entertainment events. This will represent over 40pc of the global transaction value by 2013.
The top two regions, the Far East and western Europe, will represent over 60pc of the US$300bn-a-year global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2013 for digital and physical goods.
Western Europe is currently dominated by digital goods and services sold via SMS, whereas the Far East and China region, especially Japan, is already well established in physical goods sales over the mobile web, and has been for a number of years.
“Retailers should be evaluating the benefits of the mobile web, and be mindful of the success of regular e-commerce sites in generating sales. They need to move quickly to exploit the opportunity presented, and ensure they maintain ease of use for their customers who are already familiar with web shopping from their PCs,” Wilcox said.
By John Kennedy
