42 percent of Swiss consumers want to pay by mobile in the future

Self-checkout machines are meeting with great acceptance: in a representative online survey of 2,000 people living in Switzerland, 42% of respondents stated that they had already paid via self-checkout; 65% intend to use the machines in the future. This corresponds to growth of over 50 percent.

Growth in the area of mobile payments is likely to be even higher: Today, around 23 percent have already used Apple Pay, PayPal, Twint or other mobile payment providers. In the future, this figure is likely to double (46%).

Payment via the provider's app is likely to see similarly high growth in the near future (17% in the future, 8% today). Interestingly, as many as 11% of Swiss consumers can imagine paying with virtual currencies such as Bitcoin in the future.

Rising expenditure due to mobile payment systems

Mobile payment systems are becoming increasingly important for Swiss retailers, not only due to their more widespread use, but also because of the additional turnover they generate.

Almost 30 percent of consumers surveyed expect to spend more money when shopping if they pay with their smartphone or smartwatch. Only 4 percent believe that they will spend less as a result. Retailers who offer mobile payment systems can therefore expect their consumers' spending to increase.

This effect is likely to be above average for younger consumers. 39% of millennials expect spending to increase.

"Digitalization has significantly changed consumer behaviour in the retail sector in recent years. Anyone thinking only of online sales is underestimating the development. The line between online and offline customers is becoming blurred. As a result, in-store retail sales are also heavily influenced by digital devices and online channels," says Konstantin von Radowitz, Head of Consumer & Industrial Products at Deloitte in Switzerland. "There is often talk of the increasing importance of online sales. But retailers should also focus more on the use of digital technologies offline."

The digital consumer: further study results

• The influence of digital devices and online channels in Swiss retail goes far beyond pure online sales: the proportion of stationary sales that are influenced digitally (CHF 25.5 billion) is almost four times as high as the pure online sales (CHF 6.5 billion) of Swiss retailers. This means that almost a third of retail sales are influenced by the use of digital devices.
• Although the online store is important as a sales channel, it is even more important that Swiss retailers focus on the use of digital technologies in the offline area.
• 83 percent of Swiss people generally use a smartphone, iPad or laptop when shopping.
• For one in five consumers - and one in three millennials - channels such as YouTube and Facebook have a medium to major influence on the purchasing decision.

More about the study on Advertisingweek.ch