Walmart may not like it but Apple Pay looks like it’s about to have a big impact on 2014’s Black Friday shopping season. A new survey conducted by Stratos, the makers of the Bluetooth Connected Card Platform, estimates that 30% of American smartphone owners plan to use either Apple Pay or Google Wallet to buy things this holiday shopping season. What’s more, 17% of smartphone users surveyed said having the option to buy things with Apple Pay or Google Wallet would cause them to spend more money than they normally would.
RELATED: Apple Pay is already having a significant impact at one major retailer
That said, there are a couple of major stumbling blocks here. In the first place, most users surveyed said they didn’t know much about which stores would actually accept Apple Pay or Google Wallet, which won’t be helped by stores such as CVS and RiteAid that have turned off their NFC payment sensors because they plan on supporting CurrentC.
Second, most users surveyed said they were not anywhere near comfortable enough with the technology yet to even consider dumping their credit cards for NFC-based payments.
“It is clear that people are interested in mobile payments but it doesn’t mean they’re going to abandon their cards,” explains Thiago Olson, CEO of Stratos, Inc. “Our research shows that while American smartphone users would like to use their smartphones to pay for gifts at department stores, they are less likely to want to use the same system to pay at a hotel, upscale restaurant, or a bar. Our findings show that Americans are more comfortable paying with their cards.”
Earlier this month we learned that Apple Pay transactions have accounted for just under 1% of goods bought at Whole Foods since the service launched. Given that impressive early success, it’s not surprising that the platform looks poised to do well in holiday shopping too.
