Mobile Payments Growth Tapering: Report

After surging in recent years, mobile payments growth increased only slightly in 2013, according to the results of a survey conducted by IDC Financial Insights.

The 2014 Consumer Payments Survey polled U.S. consumers in regards to emerging payments methods and technologies, such as prepaid cards and mobile payments. The survey found that about one-third (37.2%) of respondents reported using a mobile payment method of some kind, which is a relatively modest gain compared to last year's survey, the firm said.

Of those who reported using mobile payments, PayPal Mobile remained the most frequently used mobile payment method, the poll found. PayPal was used by more than half of the respondents (58.6 percent) in the survey, ahead of both Amazon Payments and Apple's iTunes, which both remained at around 40 percent.

Further, online bill payment continues to rise in overall adoption, though usage has decreased slightly for a second year in a row, according to IDC Financial Insights. Seventy percent of those polled reported using electronic bill payment, either directly through a biller's site or through a consolidator like an online banking site. The new survey also saw a slight decline in both network-branded and store branded gift cards.

"After several years of growth, the market for 'alternative' payment methods is now entering a period where adoption gains may come more slowly and where simply providing an alternative isn't enough. Instead, providers need to offer products that add value beyond the payment," said James Wester, practice director for Worldwide Payment Strategies and the author of the report, in a statement.

[Related Content: Mobile Payments and Banks: Looking Forward]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio