REPORT: How Consumers Want To Connect To Pay

Consumers have a bad case of app fatigue.

There was a time when consumers were eager to download and experiment with apps that could offer new, unique connected shopping experiences, but that time seems to have come to an end. Their interest in downloading and using new apps is down across the board.

It is not difficult to understand why. Not only are 2 million apps available on the App Store that consumers can download and use via smartphone, but voice assistants like Alexa can now be equipped with more than 100,000 “skills” with which consumers can interact and navigatethe web.

There are so many new apps, technologies and other solutions on the market that sifting through the sheer volume is becoming a problem all its own — and consumers are dealing with it by being more selective about which eCommerce shopping solutions they choose to download and use.

It is a phenomenon that PYMNTS, in collaboration with Visa, has been watching play out for three years, culminating in our annual How We Will Pay Study. Each year, we survey thousands of U.S. consumers to learn more about how they are using connected devices to browse, shop and buy goods and services in their daily lives. This year marked the third year of our study, which analyzed data from more than 5,000 participants. The Just Connect To Pay Brief delves deep into the data we collected during the course of our research.

We not only saw consumers’ interest in trying new connected commerce experiences decrease in almost all use cases this year, but consumers also have fewer reasons to try those experiences than ever before.

Fewer consumers say they are interested in using technologies that allow them to pay for in-store purchases than last year, for instance, with the share who do having fallen from 34 percent in 2018 to 33 percent in 2019. Along the same lines, 34 percent of consumers would like to make purchases by taking photos with their phones is also down, from 37 percent in 2018. percent to 34 percent.

The portion of consumers interested in trying new experiences because it can save them money fell from 86 percent to 85 percent since 2018, and the share who are interested because it can reduce the frustration of standing in line is down from 87 percent to 83 percent. Fewer consumers cite security and convenience as reasons they would like to try new connected commerce experiences than last year, as well.

In the age of app fatigue, are there any connected commerce experiences that are grabbing consumers attention? More importantly, which consumers are most interested in using them?

For the answers to these questions and more, download the brief.