New payment method an opportunity for UK businesses to connect with affluent demographic
Today sees the launch of Apple Pay in Britain, and the opportunity for retailers to establish new relationships with the Apple demographic.
The UK launch of Apple Pay, the most widely anticipated payment method of 2015, follows recent data published in global payments technology company Adyen’s quarterly Mobile Payments Index, showing that UK shoppers are already global leaders in the use of mobile payments. Altogether, Brits are attributable for 44.8% of online payments in the market made with a mobile device in the second quarter 2015, far above the global average of 28.6%.
Coupled with the fact that the iPhone accounts for over 40% of smartphones sold in the UK, and that iOS users spend significantly more per transaction than Android users, and the launch offers a compelling opportunity for businesses.
Commented Doug Gardner, CIO at high street clothing retailer, River Island: “Mobile is growing faster than most people would have predicted a couple of years ago, and with Apple Pay, we see a great opportunity to deliver a seamless payment experience and build a deeper connection with some of our most valuable customers.”
Dr Felicity Hardley, senior lecturer of marketing at Westminster Business School commented on the potential for Apple Pay to be the UK’s preferred contactless payment method: “Apple Pay might become the preferred form of contactless payments for consumers before long. Today’s launch of Apple Pay could dramatically accelerate the use on contactless payments by consumers and could increase sales of iPhones and the Apple Watch.
“A significant number of consumers already have the technology to utilise Apple Pay which means they can ‘try it out’ with relative ease and no additional expense, unlike the new Barclaycard wearable contactless payment devices,” continued Hardley. “Consumers are increasingly comfortable with contactless payment methods due to being able to use debit or credit cards on public transport and in many retail outlets already. This takes out some of the fear factor in this new payment method. The fact that Apple already has so many major retailers signed up is the final signal to many consumers that this payment method should be safe.”
For businesses that have contactless payments enabled at the point-of-sale, no additional integration work is required. However, Adyen is today enabling businesses including JD Sports, JUST EAT, Polagram, River Island, Takeaway.com, TravelBird and Vueling to support Apple Pay as it launches in the UK market.
Businesses partnering with Adyen are able to take advantage of the fact that it is the only payments technology provider that supports Apple Pay in the US and the UK both in-app and in-store with a single solution. Businesses with iOS applications can support Apple Pay using Adyen’s SDK or develop in-house based on the Apple documentation and use Adyen for transaction processing.
Said Myles Dawson, country manager UK at Adyen: “Offering Apple Pay is exciting for UK businesses because it enables them to leverage Apple’s brand power and target shoppers with a high level of discretionary spending. This is particularly interesting in a market where iPhone penetration is high and mobile payments are already widely used. What’s more, early transaction data from the US shows that transaction success rates for Apple Pay are amongst the highest across all payment methods.
