“Working with our partner, InfoScout, we fielded our latest quarterly consumer study of Apple Pay adoption and usage in early June and just completed our analysis,” Karen Webster writes for PYMNTS.com. “We now have observations every quarter since the launch of Apple Pay.”
Adoption: The number of people who’ve tried the service once has tripled since launch. But, that has less to do with massive waves of enthusiasm for the service and more to do with it simply being made more broadly available and people having had more time to try, so it makes sense that more people are giving it a whirl. But adoption has also plateaued over the last two quarters, which is a bit concerning.
Frequency of Usage: The percent of people who use the service more than once has fallen from its peak a year ago, and is now sharply lower than what had been seen at launch. After you take into account both who has adopted the service, and how often people who have adopted it use it, the numbers have barely moved over 20 months: roughly speaking, only one person in 20 who have the service use it when they can, 19 out of 20 people who have the service don’t even bother.
Consumer Feedback: Some users love it but many say that they don’t use the service because they have — and use — alternatives that they say they consider just as easy and convenient to use. The general sentiment is more like “why bother changing” or “I like what I’m already using better.” Preference over the existing standard has yet to be established – pretty essential to getting widespread adoption and use.
Win-back Potential: Over the last 20 months, the fraction of people who say they rarely consider using it again has increased by 50 percent and now represents a third of those who’ve tried and used the product.
“It’s not about paying, which was Apple Pay’s focus then, and is still now,” Webster writes. “Adding value to merchants and consumers has to be about making that digital payments credentials smarter and more valuable. That, I believe, in-store will have very little to do with NFC in the U.S. and a lot more about how those credentials can be activated before the consumer even thinks about ‘checking out.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote nearly one year ago to the day:
Apple, give us a reason to use Apple Pay beyond looking like tech dorks in front of the line at the register. What’s the incentive to use Apple Pay? There is none besides looking like a flaming nerd. As if Apple doesn’t have any money. That, inexplicably, is how they approach Apple Pay. Hello, Tim? Eddy? Talk to some people who actually go to stores and shop for things, please.
Incentivize its use! Give Apple Pay users a percentage of every dollar spent via Apple Pay to spend at Apple Stores. Something. Anything! Get people used to using it first. Sheesh. It’s really not that difficult. It really isn’t.
And, BTW: That was written before Apple Watch made the process so seamless that nobody in line (or the cashier, half the time) even notices how or that we paid, but we still think Apple should take some of tiny portion of their cash mountain and put it to good use incentivizing (and training) their customers to use Apple Pay.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Pay and wannabes must offer perks to grow – December 14, 2015
Starbucks, KFC, and Chili’s to accept Apple Pay this year – October 8, 2015
Barclays to bring Apple Pay to the UK in early 2016 – October 7, 2015
Some Best Buy stores are now accepting Apple Pay – September 18, 2015
MCX CEO gone a day after Apple Pay lands Best Buy – April 28, 2015
Best Buy capitulates, to accept Apple Pay despite CurrentC allegiance – April 27, 2015
Major retailers see Apple Pay wave – November 17, 2014
In only 3 weeks, Apple Pay is changing how consumers pay – November 17, 2014
Boycott CVS and Rite Aid – October 27, 2014
Bad business: CVS and Rite Aid antagonize their most well-heeled customers by blocking Apple Pay – October 27, 2014
CVS stores reportedly disabling NFC to shut down Apple Pay – October 25, 2014
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Apple’s iOS dominates in richer countries, Android in poorer regions – March 25, 2014
Twitter heat map shows iPhone use by the affluent, Android by the poor – June 20, 2013
