Few U.S. Consumers Have Experience with Mobile Commerce, Yet

Only five percent of Americans say that they have scanned their phone for admission to a movie or as an airline ticket, and fewer say they have done so to pay for clothing or electronics (three percent), admission to a concert, live theater or performance (three percent), to pay for a convenience item such as coffee (three percent) or something else (seven percent).

About 40 percent say they have never done so, and  45 percent say they do not own a smart phone with this capability. The Harris Poll survey of 2,056 adults surveyed online between February 6 and 13, 2012 by Harris Interactive, is a problem, right? Wrong.

There is a long history of proponents, suppliers, academics, policy wonks and others who have fretted that U.S. consumers were not taking advantage of some new technology that people in Japan or Western Europe were doing.
That was said about mobile phone ownership, use of text messaging, sometimes of fiber to the home, often about broadband speeds or use of mobile commerce applications. In fact, with the exception of smart phone, tablet and mobile applications, the United States is normally accused of being “behind” other countries in adoption of new technologies.

Those fears have proven to be unnecessary. When consumers have become convinced of the value of such innovations, adoption has been robust and rapid.

In essence, critics have been “blaming the consumer for being dumb,” when in fact consumers were quite rational. They were waiting for a value proposition that made sense, and then adopted rapidly and robustly. If consumers have not adopted some new innovation, it is because the value is not there, or possibly not perceived.

Some of us would argue the former, not the latter, has been the case. It isn’t that people “do not understand,” it is that suppliers haven’t provided the right mix of value and price. Show the value and even the price is not necessarily an issue.

While few may be actively engaging with these functions, there is also a divide on the levels of comfort associated with these behaviors as well. Just under half of Americans (47%) say they are comfortable using a mobile scan as an admission ticket to movies, concerts or live theater performances, while 38% are not comfortable with it-with 25% not at all comfortable; 15% are not sure. About the same number of people are comfortable (41%) and not comfortable (43%) using a mobile scan as an airline, train or other transportation ticket; 15% are again, not sure.

Slightly fewer are comfortable using a mobile app that would allow them to make purchases at a retailer or company as they would with a gift card (39%) while 47% are not comfortable with this and 14% are not sure. The only item where a majority opinion is seen, is with using a mobile app that would store credit card information, allowing people to make purchases at a retailer or company as they would with a credit card; 63% are not comfortable with this with over two in five (45%) not at all comfortable. Only one quarter (24%) of Americans are comfortable with this, and 13% are not sure.