Ovum Forecasts Hike in Mobile Payments Users

Analyst firm Ovum has predicted an explosion in mCommerce over the next three years – with China set to have the largest user base by 2019.

The companys latest forecast says that the total global user base for mobile payments will increase from an estimated 689.99m users in 2014 to 4.77bn users in 2019.

The new forecast covers three segments – mCommerce, P2P mobile money transfers, and mobile proximity payments – and Ovum says mCommerce will see the greatest growth.

Ovum says there were 452.78m global mCommerce users in 2014, a figure that will rise to 2.07bn users in 2019. China will have the most users, accounting for 370.29m.

The global transaction value of mCommerce will grow from $50.92bn in 2014 to $693.36bn by 2019. Chinas transaction value will reach almost $80bn – which will be second only to the US, according to Ovums predictions.

The rise of mCommerce is being driven by the widespread adoption of increasingly powerful smartphones with larger screens, says Ovum, alongside the growth of the number of retailers optimising their websites for mobile shopping.

“Smartphones have become a platform that can support the whole shopping journey, from product search and discovery, through comparisons and recommendations, to payments,” says Eden Zoller, principal consumer services and payments analyst at Ovum.

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