Payment through mobile devices on the rise in Europe

Use of mobile devices in online as well as traditional retail purchases is growing in European nations along with other areas of the world.

In Europe, the share of alternative payments, including mobile and e-wallets, is forecasted to gradually increase from just 1% of total payments in 2010 to a double digit share in 2020. Mobile banking is gaining in popularity throughout Europe. The highest mobile banking penetration in Europe is in Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands, and online banking penetration (above 80%) is the highest in Norway, Finland and the Netherlands.

Online and mobile payment methods in the mature markets of Central Europe are well established as growth continues. In Germany, invoice and PayPal were the two most preferred payment methods in B2C E-Commerce.

Mobile payments are increasing with slightly above 10% of consumers using mobile payments in parking or ticketing terminals and POS at least once in 2012. In Austria and Switzerland, the majority of online shoppers used invoice to pay in online shops, with credit cards in second place.

Online payment acceptance continues in the Western Europe sub-region, where the value of mobile payment transactions is expected to grow by half in 2013 over last year. In the UK, online shoppers are increasingly paying with debit cards, with online debit card spending overtaking that of credit card in 2012. Regarding mobile payments, around two thirds of consumers in the UK have not yet used it, but have heard of it, and slightly above 10% used it at least once.

In France, three of the major banks cooperated to launch an online payment system Paylib in September 2013, an inter-bank alternative to PayPal. The payment method most used by online shoppers in the first half of this year in France was bank card. The potential of mobile payment in France is indicated in that several millions of NFC capable mobile devices are in use and over 100,000 retail stores had NFC terminals by September 2013.

Among other countries of Western Europe, in Italy credit card is expected to remain the dominant payment method in B2C E-Commerce through 2013, though the value of mobile payment transactions, including remote payments and M-Commerce, got close to EUR 1 billion last year.

In the Netherlands, around three quarters of online shoppers preferred to pay via a local online banking solution iDEAL in 2012, making it the dominant payment method in Dutch B2C E-Commerce. iDEAL also dominated in M-Commerce. In Spain, several players launched mobile payment solutions, including NFC payments at POS.

Online and mobile payment increased in Eastern Europe also. Online payments in Russia are close to reaching EUR 10 billion in 2013, growing by at double digit growth rates. Cash on delivery prevailed as a payment method in B2C E-Commerce, used by over half of online Russian shoppers in 2013.