One in five Europeans expects to use their mobile phone to make payments on a daily basis by 2020, growing from the one in ten who do so already today, research from Visa Europe has found. 53% expect to use their devices for payments at least once a week and 43% are also interested in making in-store NFC mobile payments.

NICHOLDS: “We think those numbers could be rather conservative and that the actual adoption rate will be much higher”

The ‘Mobile Money’ research, based on surveying more than 12,000 consumers in Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the UK, found that the average shopper expects to spend €35 on mobile each week by 2020, €13 more than is spent today and three times the weekly spend in 2012. 41% are interested in using a mobile wallet service.

While apps and music are still the items purchased most frequently via mobile devices today, the payment network has observed a growing number of European consumers already buying higher value items on mobile, with clothes (15%) and electronics (13%) among the top five most purchased items.

People who are already using their mobile devices to make transactions are also open to other mobile money services. The research highlights that these mobile money users in Europe are four times more likely to be interested in paying friends through a smartphone app compared to non-users (40% vs 11%).

When looking at the main concerns about mobile payments, one third of respondents (32%) admitted that they “simply didn’t know enough about it.”

Nearly half of the approximately 2,000 UK respondents that took part in the survey are interested in using their smartphone to make an in-store NFC mobile payment. One in four expect to use mobile payments on a daily basis and six in ten expect to use their mobile to pay at least once a week by 2020.

A quarter of UK consumers predict they will spend more than £50 (US$77) a week on mobile in the same period, and 43% are interested in using a mobile wallet service.

“While we’re excited to see consumers saying they expect to triple their weekly spend by 2020, we at Visa think those numbers could be rather conservative and that the actual adoption rate will be much higher,” says Jeremy Nicholds, executive director for mobile at Visa Europe.

“This is particularly true when you look at the growth in contactless usage, which saw European usage grow by 2x and spend grow by 3x over the last 12 months. Contactless and online commerce enhancements have been key in paving the way for the next generation of mobile payment technology.

“The environmental conditions are already in place to meet the demands and expectations for digital payments. It’s no longer a question of if consumers will embrace this new way to pay, it’s when — and for us, the next 12 months are when mobile payments become mainstream.”