MasterCard Says Where Digital Wallets Are Trending

MasterCard said Sunday (Feb. 21) that it has insight into what consumers want from mobile payments and digital wallets over the near term.

In a release noting the conclusions of its fourth annual MasterCard Mobile Payments Study (done in conjunction with PRIME Research), the payments juggernaut stated that cardholders have been asking retailers they frequent and card issuers to offer ready-to-use mobile payments options. One hallmark of those desires has been through social media, where comments — across 2 million posts logged on Twitter, Facebook and others, up from a relatively miniscule 85,000 posts just four years ago — show “positive sentiment about mobile payments technology,” said MasterCard.

The positive sentiment furthers a two-year trend of such a sanguine mood toward payments. Looking at the mobile conversations themselves, MasterCard noted that digital wallets, with marquee names such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, were the focus of the overwhelming percentage of posts (with gains in mentions in every region of the world) at 97 percent.

The posts focused on digital wallet and product launches, as well as technology reviews. In addition, other areas that garnered notable attention included contactless cards, at 47 percent, and biometrics, at 33 percent. In the case of the former, interest revolved around acceptance at public transit and public events.

Wearables also gained momentum, with mentions of such devices up 30 times in the final quarter of the year compared to the first quarter of 2015.

Perhaps not surprisingly, safety and security of mobile transactions remained among the key topics of the year. And, taken on a topic-by-topic basis, MasterCard noted that, last year, the “end of passwords and biometrics were among the most engaging topics” of the year, with social conversations spanning as many as 163 countries worldwide.