Consumers cautious about storing payment card details in mobile apps

Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - 09:31 by Paul Tissington

Many retailers now offer dedicated m-commerce apps that customers can use to carry out safe shopping online, without having to visit a website. And as well as faster performance and a more intuitive interface, these apps also give people the opportunity to keep their payment information stored, to make subsequent transactions quicker to carry out.

However, a report from Skrill published this month, has found that just 14 per cent of people are actually choosing to take advantage of this feature, with the majority raising questions about the security of this practice.

Conversely, almost two thirds of people are happy to allow payment card information to be saved when shopping online via a dedicated e-commerce site. So perhaps the simplest explanation for people’s reluctance when it comes to apps, is that they are more comfortable with the levels of data protection that are offered by standard online outlets.

Thirty per cent of respondents who were among the group that have yet to allow card details to be stored in an app said that they were hesitant because they did not want private information about them to be stolen, if an app is compromised.

Of the people who have embraced the idea that payment data can be safely stored in smartphone and tablet shopping apps, a quarter said that the biggest benefit was not having to type out all of their card information when making a new purchase.

Apps are favoured by many mobile users over m-commerce sites because they are more responsive and easy to use on touchscreen devices. But there is still a lot to be said for harnessing mobile optimised shopping sites, because, of course, they deliver a degree of continuity from platform to platform.