27% of global online transactions are now on mobile devices

Online payments made using mobile devices continue to rise globally, according to Adyens quarterly Mobile Payments Index (MPI), which now account for 27.2% of the total online payments made in Q1 2015. It means an increase from 25.8% on the traditionally high online spending period of Q4 and up a 39% on the corresponding period of 2014.

The average transaction value (ATV) of digital goods purchased via tablets has surpassed the figure for desktops/laptops for the first time since Adyen began publishing the Mobile Payments Index in June 2013. The US market showed notable growth in Q1, 2015 with 26.7% of payments online being made on mobile, an increase of nearly five percentage points over the past six months. This rate of growth compared favorably with Europe, which increased only two percentage points in the same period. However, it must be noted that in terms of regions, Europe led the way overall, with 28.6% of payments online made with mobile. Meanwhile, Asian markets have for the first time broken the 20% barrier for online mobile payments.

In terms of individual markets, the UK stands head and shoulders above the global averages. In Q1 2015, 44.4% of online payments in the UK were made using a mobile device up from 36.9% for the corresponding period in 2014, with smartphones accounting for 66% of that figure compared with 64.9% in 2014. The Index shows that the average transaction value for the digital goods industry has risen across all platforms over the same period of 2014. Digital spend online increased 28% and 30% respectively for desktops/laptops and tablets, but the greatest leap was over mobile devices, where the ATV rose 37% year-on-year to EUR 28.27.

ATV on smartphones may be lower than for tablets, but in pure volume terms the gap between spending on smartphones and tablets has widened dramatically. In March 2014, smartphones accounted for 10.9% of online transactions, compared to 9.3% for tablets. By March 2015, smartphones were accounting for 16% of online transactions, compared to 11.5% for tablets, reflecting an almost 300% increase in the gap between smartphone and tablet share. In the same period of time, desktops dropped from 79.8% of online transactions to 72.5%.

In the battle of the smartphone operating systems, Apple is still number one, but Google and the Open Handset Alliance are closing the gap. iOS ended Q1 2015 with a 65% market share of online mobile payments, down from 69.5% in 2014. Meanwhile, Android claimed 34.9% at the close of Q1 2015, up from 30.3% in Q1 2014. Android may be closing the gap on iOS, but the Apple percentages are much more balanced than Android across devices, in Q1 2015, iPads accounted for 47.2% of iOS mobile payments, versus 52.8% for iPhones, while for the same period Android mobiles made up 78.2 of the total Android payments.

Since June 2013, the Adyen Mobile Payment Index has tracked the rapid evolution of mobile as a payment channel, providing insight into mobile payment trends for different devices, market sectors, and geographies. The Mobile Payments Index is based on Adyen’s global mobile web payment transaction data, and does not track in-app mobile payments.