Will you be shopping with your mobile rather than cash by 2016?

 

Shopping using digital money via mobile phone could see UK shoppers go without wallets in five years time.

Mobile money could replace cash, cheques and cards by 2016, a new report from PayPal has found.

In five years time, UK shoppers will be able to pay for things on the high street using digital money via their mobile phone rather than using traditional forms of payment, according to the online payments service.

A survey conducted by technology researchers Forrester Consulting on behalf of PayPal found that almost half of the 550 mobile buyers polled use their phones to make purchases at least once every three months.

Carl Scheible, managing director of PayPal UK, said: “We’ll see a huge change over the next few years in the way we shop and pay for things. By 2016, you’ll be able to leave your wallet at home and use your mobile as the 21st century digital wallet.”

“2016 will mark the real start of money’s digital switchover in the UK. We’re not saying cash will disappear entirely, but we’ll increasingly use our phones and other devices rather than our wallets to pay in-store as well as online.”

Scheible explained that the lines between online and the high street will eventually disappear and that children born today will grow up to find it natural to pay for things with a mobile handset - the “cashless generation”.

The report also revealed that paying for products and services in shops using mobiles will mean no queuing, while shoppers will be able to take advantage of digital loyalty cards and promotional offers and carry receipts on their phones.

Coffee shop chain Starbucks today announced it is launching an app that will allow iPhone and iPod touch owners to pay for their morning pick-me-up using one touch payment technology - the first high street company to offer this option in the UK and Ireland. The app will be available from 5 January 2012.

Photo by topgold

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