• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, December 10, 2014

Mobile payments may be on uphill climb.

And as if the hill wasn’t high enough, along comes a piece of insight showing that most shoppers are totally fine with using their credit and debit cards, thank you very much.

While about half (52%) of smartphone owners like the idea of having new mobile payment options for in-store shopping, fewer than a third (31%) plan to use them for holiday shopping, based on a new survey.

Smartphone owners still rely on their trusty old credit and debit cards, with most (70%) preferring them over mobile payments, according to an advance copy of the Holiday Mobile Payment Survey obtained by the mCommerce Daily.

The study comprised an online survey of 400 smartphone owners aged 24 to 50, selected from a 20-million person panel. The survey was conducted by research firm AYTM for Stratos, a company that makes a connected-card platform.

When measuring the payment comfort level, a mere 4% said they were more comfortable using their phone rather than a credit or debit card to pay.

In yet another indicator of the state of market knowledge and acceptance of mobile payments, almost a third (32%) said they don’t care about any new mobile payment options for shopping in stores this holiday season and even if they did, most (69%) are uncertain about which stores accept them.

And about the impact of mobile payments, most (66%) shoppers plan to spend the same amount of money no matter what.

In terms of what is appealing about mobile paying in stores with options like Apple Pay or Google Wallet, there was a range of reaction. Here’s what appeals to smartphone owners:

• 38% -- Don’t have to worry about getting credit/debit cards stolen
• 33% -- Can track spending more easily electronically
• 31% -- Phone pay is not appealing, would rather use credit/debit card
• 24% -- Phone is harder to forget than a credit/debit card
• 20% -- Paying using phone is more secure than paying with credit/debit card
• 10% -- Makes me look more cool

Most (64%) prefer using credit or debit cards because paying that way is accepted everywhere, as opposed to the current state of mobile payments acceptance.

For payments, ubiquity is king.

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