Cash drives the Indian payments market, and is valued by consumers for its security, convenience, and comfort. By tapping into this, mobile wallet providers can gain market share in a country with an online commerce market set to be worth $63.7bn by 2020.
Accounting for 21% of total online spending by value of transactions and 50% by number of transactions in 2015, cash is the most popular payment tool in India when shopping online. Our Online Consumer Payments Analytics shows that that 31% of Indian consumers selected security as the most important reason for using cash, followed by convenience (22%) and comfort (21%). While credit cards are the most popular payment tool across the majority of markets, Indian consumers value the safety and ease of use associated with cash transactions.
With internet penetration on the rise and the number of smartphones significantly increasing over the last 12 months, the share of Indian consumers who have a mobile wallet and use it gained more than 20%. According to our Megatrends framework (which asks respondents to rank eight specific behavioral trends in order of importance), younger family consumers are among the first to try a new product and prefer to buy goods and services online. As such, mobile payment providers should specifically target this segment in their marketing of product launches to gain market share.
In order to promote mobile wallets as a replacement for cash when shopping online, providers should include adequate security features while making them as easy and convenient to use as cash. To reach critical mass over the next five years, providers should move the value proposition of mobile wallets beyond payments to additional services across the mobile-enabled space, including loyalty/reward programs, bill payment, money transfers, and post-purchase experiences.
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