Fifty-three percent of Asia Pacific’s connected consumers use their mobile devices to make payments. It helps that smartphone adoption continues to go up, but so has the lack of legacy banking structures has benefited Asia’s developing and emerging markets.
The 2017 Connected Life study by Kantar TNS revealed that China is the number one mobile payment market globally, with 40% of connected consumers paying by mobile on a weekly basis, and 77% having used mobile payment in the past. Hong Kong and South Korea follow at 32% and 31% respectively.
Figure 1: Preference to pay using the smartphone
Source: Kantar 2019
IDC Financial Insight’s senior research manager, Michael Sek Pheng Yeo, says China’s Alipay and WeChat are the use cases of how deeply embedded they’ve become the society.
“Nothing else comes close,” remarked Yeo.
And the secret sauce to their success? Yeo cited things like outstanding user interface, including the smallest number of swipes to complete a transaction, as well as doing security right are factors that both Alibaba and Tencent have mastered.
He cautioned, however, that the technical aspects like ease-of-use can all be normalized over time. “What Alibaba and Tencent have mastered well is creating ecosystems of partners to encourage consumers from inside the ecosystem – everything is inside. No need to go elsewhere,” he quipped.
In this exclusive interview with Fintech Innovation Yeo lists a number of emerging technologies that will further influence the development of mobile payments. He also talks about the cashless revolution that is taking shape in Asia.
Watch the full video as Yeo discusses failed strategies in mobile payments including in Asian players as well as global brands.
- Who is the best when it comes to mobile payments? 0:06-1:03
- What sets apart the best mobile payment success stories? 1:03-1:42
- Given an example of a proven recipe for failed mobile payment strategy. 1:42-4:44
- Is regulation ready to support the growth of mobile payments? 4:44-6:12
- What is your advice for new entrants to the mobile payment space in Asia: 6:12-8:31
