One in five UK consumers will use their mobile phone to pay for goods and services and receive offers in realtime as soon as the technology becomes widespread.
That is the top-line result of an online poll of 17,000 people – part of a regularly refreshed Web-based survey programme run by Acxiom – shows 20.5 per cent of individuals are ready for near-field communications (NFC), which are set to be tested in several UK towns during 2011.
The figure equates to almost 6.8 million of the 33 million people in the UK who have mobile phone subscriptions.
The survey showed that those most likely to use NFC, according to Acxiom’s Personicx Household consumer segmentation solution, are married couples aged 45 to 54, earning in excess of £40,000 a year. They are generally middle or senior managers, and many run their own business.
Other common characteristics include enjoying extensive travel, skiing, playing golf and going to restaurants. They are likely to be regular donors to charity and own at least two cars per household, preferring Saab, Audi, Mercedes or Land Rover.
Acxiom Europe’s head of mobile Gaurang Vartikar said: “Our results show these consumers will be the early adopters of NFC and the best way to reach them would be trials at their favourite retail stores, which are Sainsbury’s Local, Tesco Metro, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.”
Further analysis shows:
• Those people who are open to using NFC would do so to make payments, receive loyalty points, acquire coupons and even download ads to their phones
• Some 15 per cent are happy to share their information as long as a brand is transparent about what information they collect
• Single female homeowners aged 25 to 44, living in urban areas and earning up to £40,000, are more likely to use NFC for coupons and loyalty points than for making payments
• Students and large families showed a greater amount of interest in using their mobile devices to make day-to-day payments, but are still interested in receiving coupons and loyalty points via NFC.
Vartikar added: “Contactless data transfer opens up a world of possibilities for marketers. From new payment options to marketing and peer-to-peer communications, the opportunities are immense and yet to be fully understood.
“The research indicates that 15 per cent of respondents are willing to share their details with brands via NFC. Brands now need to quickly understand who these supporters of NFC are, what they spend their money on and what they will use the new services for in order to send them targeted, relevant offers.”
