Eighty Percent of Consumers Want Payment Alternatives

Michael Garrity — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Online and mobile credit card payments just can’t seem to shake the stigma of being somewhat risky propositions. No matter how many security advancements are developed, many consumers still can’t fully get on board with the idea.

Javelin Strategy and Research recently conducted a consumer survey that highlights these still-prevalent fears. In fact, 80 percent of consumers said they “would spend more money online if they considered credit cards safer and had payment alternatives.” As a result, Javelin estimates that customers would spend as much as $109.8 billion more than they currently do online if there were a “no credit card required” method of payment.

The survey, commissioned by PaymentOne, was conducted in fall 2011 and polled over 2,000 U.S. adults. Most of the concerns they expressed about credit card usage were related to privacy, such as their personal data being acquired by advertisers, marketers or hackers.

Some other notable findings in the survey include:

-    95 percent of the respondents owned mobile phones, but just 36 percent had ever used the devices to purchase something -- including apps, games, music and media streaming.
-    55 percent of consumers fear merchants or websites will send them junk mail.
-    54 percent fear their information is being sold to other merchants.
-    51 percent worry that their credit card information will be intercepted online.
-    41 percent fear that merchants will misuse their credit card information.

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Eighty Percent of Consumers Want Payment Alternatives