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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Vision for the "Mobile Wallet" is ambitious

and driven by added value

Integration of mobile wallet into the business con-
cept
The mobile wallet is expected to replace the entire
physical wallet in the future, with all the cards it con-
tains, such as credit and debit cards, ID card, health
insurance card, customer cards, driving licenses, ad-
mission tickets, and much more, demanding to create
entirely new applications and interaction scenarios. The
unlimited virtual space also makes it possible to supple-
ment cards that can’t find a place in a real wallet, for
example, more loyalty cards or access rights to a car or
an apartment could be stored in the mobile wallet, too,
or craftsmen could get temporally limited access to an
apartment to do repairs. Of course, this is still a long
way off, but with the right security tools, this may soon
become a reality. To use the mobile payment option,
IDC expects worldwide mobile payments to account for the user must recognize the added value, because only
one trillion US dollars in value in 2017, up 124% from then the mobile wallet will prevail.
the less than $500 billion expected in 2015, with the
Asia Pacific markets greatly contributing to this growth, A real added value to the customer would also be of
as mCommerce transactions with remote payments course, when the mobile payment system would be
take off across the region. The analysts believe further accepted abroad as well, making cross-border shop-
that the strongest growth for mPayments will come from ping easier, possibly via all channels. An optimization
emerging countries and the limited state of credit/debit of the entire digital experience eventually leads to suc-
card adoption in Asia Pacific will force potential mPay- cess. Fact is that it has to be an easy-to-use technolo-
ments behavior to shift to using bank account linked gy which beyond that fulfils the data protection and pri-
mobile wallets. vacy requirements of the user.

Considering that smartphones have already become In addition, the relevance plays an important role, too:
the most common devices to access the Internet, it is Is the mobile wallet only an additional supplement to
only logical that mobile payment has increased, too. other payment options or does it manage to replace the
Google, Facebook or Twitter, all offer mobile users so- traditional wallet?
called buy-buttons already, that allow products to be Here, for example, the seamless linking with genuine
ordered directly. In fact, it has never been easier to loyalty programs can be an added value. An optimal
shop with a mobile device, since technology has user experience is a key factor for the success of the
evolved tremendously. mobile wallet, as people want simplicity. A small stum-
bling block, that interferes with the users‘ good experi-
Although having had difficulties in gaining momentum
at the start, the benefits of mobile wallets are recog- ence, can upset them very quickly.
nized by developers, dealers as well as financial ser- „Convenience Payment“ is here the magic word. Cus-
vice providers by now, who all work on the technical tomers demand a high level of security and conven-
implementation and integration in their business plans. ience, since it wouldn’t make sense to use the mobile
Since we can’t imagine our life without our smartphone payment method, if it takes only slightly longer to give
anymore, it stands to reason that you might want to use the seller a credit card or pay by signature. Paying with
it for making payments. Especially with so many com- the mobile wallet must be designed as intuitive as pay-
panies showcasing their good experiences with mobile ing by card and still offer more added value.
payment, such as Starbucks, that took in over 1 billion
dollars via its mobile payment method last year alone, The wallet system MPass of MasterCard, for instance,
and Paypal's QR-shopping app, which has been very saves the customer the time-consuming re-keying of
well received, too. the delivery address when shopping mobile. Since
many traders buy both in-store and online, the payment
procedures should cover all channels and thus offer a
4 Asian eMarketing October 2015: Mobile Marketing
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