Global mobile payment transactions will nearly quadruple over the next five years, according to a report from Juniper Research, rising to more than $1.3 trillion by 2017.

According to Juniper, that growth will be primarily driven by sales of physical goods by both remote purchases and NFC transactions, which will account for 54 per cent of the total value of mobile payments by 2017. At that point, retail transactions for physical goods bought via mobile will account for 30 per cent of eRetail, and 4 per cent of global retail transactions.

And while the widespread roll out of NFC support infrastructure is partially responsible, Juniper warns that the technology has a long way to go – and to fulfil its potential, the marketing behind NFC needs to be scaled up dramatically.

“While we are now seeing significant deployments of contactless infrastructure, consumer awareness is extremely low,” says report author Dr Windsor Holden. “Thus, it is imperative for all members of the NFC value chain to engage with the public to heighten its profile as a simple, intuitive payment mechanism.”