Member Article

UK shoppers demand in-store payments that replicate ‘one-click’ transactions online

Speed and convenience prove key to enhancing customer experience around in-store payments, a new report from RetailEXPO reveals.

Original research of 2,000 UK consumers in the ‘ONE VISION: how to re-energise retail in 2019 and beyond’ report from RetailEXPO showed that increasingly shoppers want faster ways to pay, with a quarter (23%) of consumers wanting transactions that replicate the ease of ‘one-click’ online payments available in the store.

With queues remaining the biggest in-store bugbear for over half (53%) of shoppers, payment technologies that reduced waiting time were the most likely to enhance bricks-and-mortar encounters. Self-checkout and scan and go capabilities, where consumers automatically paid for scanned items as they leave the store, were the top in-store technologies that would improve customer experience for 52% of shoppers.

Choice of payment methods also proved a key consideration for shoppers, with 42% of consumers now wanting retailers to accept mobile wallet options or digital currencies, such as BitCoin.

Yet, while appetite for new payment methods is growing, the affinity for card transactions isn’t shifting; even if mobile payments were more widely accepted, 46% of shoppers would still use bank cards as their ‘go to’ way to pay. This, the report suggests, may be due to ongoing security concerns around mobile payments, such as ApplePay or SamsungPay, with 61% of consumers saying they are still worried about the security of these transactional technologies.

Matt Bradley, Director at RetailEXPO, commented: “Shoppers want speed and convenience at every touch point of the in-store journey – and nowhere is this more pronounced than at the checkout, where payment capabilities can make or break a frictionless shopping encounter. This means retailers need to offer as many transaction choices as possible that tick the boxes for the consumer in terms of speed, choice and confidence; having coaxed a shopper all the way to point of payment, they mustn’t risk losing a sale because a preferred transaction choice isn’t available.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chelsea Reay .