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CoverStory

Morning Consult: Mobile wallets and debit cards

Concertgoers really like to use their digital wallets
when attending events. This, according to a poll by
Morning Consult and the mobile carrier Verizon.

Four in five of those surveyed said they had used digi-
tal wallets to make purchases at live music events, and
half said their cell service's ability to support this is
more important today than it was two years ago.

In a separate survey, the research firm found consum-
ers "overwhelmingly" prefer debit cards for the speed
and convenience the cards offer.

Seven in 10 of respondents use debit cards at least once
a week to pay for purchases. What's more, more than
nine in 10 (93 percent) of consumers who have lost or
disputed a transaction on their cards were satisfied
with their issuers' ability to rectify matters.
Another interesting aside: nearly three in four (73 per-
cent) of consumers agree that interchange fees are nec-
essary to support banks' fraud prevention measures,
and a similar share (72 percent) would oppose lower-
ing interchange for large retailers if it meant higher
checking account fees.
Juniper: QR code payments to exceed $8 trillion by 2029

NFC and QR technologies are growing in popularity
among all generations. The announcement last year
from Apple that developers would soon be able to offer
NFC contactless transactions using the secure element
from within their own apps on iPhones, separate from
Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, was a seeming game
changer.

A new report from Juniper Research suggested the
value of QR code payments will grow by 50 percent
globally from $5.2 trillion this year to exceed $8 trillion
by 2029. The research firm recommended that QR code
payment vendors tailor their offerings for smaller busi-
nesses to capitalize on this growth.

"QR code infrastructure is cheaper and more accessible
than traditional point-of-sale technology," stated Dan-
iel Bedford, the report's author. "It lowers the barrier to
entry for smaller vendors, such as street vendors, driv-
ers, and independent workers, to readily accept pay-
ments, which helps drive financial inclusion."

Patti Murphy, self-described payments maven of the fourth estate,
is senior editor at the Green Sheet. She also co-hosts the Merchant
Sales Podcast, and is president of ProScribes Ink.

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