Most UAE consumers willing to try new digital repayment methods
05 May, 2021
Ninety-seven % of consumers surveyed in the UAE intend to use at least one latest approach to digital payment such as wearables, biometrics, digital currencies or QR codes within the next season, according to a fresh report.
This compares to a worldwide average of 93 %, payments company Mastercard said in its report, which polled 15,569 consumers in 18 countries between February 26 and March 10. Almost 1,000 persons in the UAE were interviewed.
Two-thirds of UAE respondents and 63 % globally said they have recently tried a new payment method they might not need used under normal situations.
The Covid-19 pandemic has driven customers to try “flexible new payment options to get what they need, when they want to buy”, the report said.
“The pandemic built us think differently, partly out necessarily,” Craig Vosburg, chief product officer at Mastercard, said.
The usage of digital payment methods has grown rapidly since the onset of the pandemic as fear of contagion means people stay away from physical cash. Globally, digital repayments are set to grow to $8.3 trillion in 2024, from $4.4tn last year, according to Statista.
Nearly 88 per cent of in-person transactions are actually contactless in the UAE as “most merchant categories are seeing a rise just as a share of total in-person transactions”, Mastercard said.
In the 1st quarter of the year, Mastercard registered practically 1 billion extra contactless transactions globally compared to the same period this past year. Nearly 70 per cent of consumers across the world expect to work with a contactless cards this season, the report showed.
Complementing the global average, over three-quarters of these interviewed in the UAE explained they prefer to look more at smaller businesses that have both a physical and on the net presence.
Nearly 78 % of UAE respondents said they intend to shop at retailers that offer the most recent payment methods and you will be more loyal to merchants who offer up multiple payment options.
As interest in digital currencies accelerates, five in 10 UAE individuals said they intend to use cryptocurrencies within the next year, with 63 % admitting they are more open to with them now than these were this past year. Earlier this season, Mastercard said it'll start supporting select cryptocurrencies on its network.
“Consumers today expect ease and it is up to businesses to react to this demand,” said Girish Nanda, Mastercard’s country supervisor for the UAE and Pakistan.
“We have also witnessed how smaller businesses too must be prepared for an omnichannel future. We foresee that quickness and security will take up a far more important function in delivering these necessities and we expect continuing growth of new solutions,” Mr Nanda said.
Fifty-five per cent of these surveyed in the UAE plan to use biometric verification methods to make repayments and 68 % of the country’s users feel safer using biometrics to verify a get than entering a personal identification number.
The idea of digital wallets can be removing in the Emirates. About 66 per cent of consumers said they will employ digital wallets and 57 per cent of shoppers felt secure storing their card data in one place like a digital wallet, the survey found.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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