Survey: P2P an Opportunity for E-Payments Providers (Oct. 15, 2013)
While digital payments have become commonplace for paying bills and making purchases, person-to-person payments still have much unlocked potential for electronic payment providers, according to a new report from financial services technology provider Fiserv. In its 2013 “How Americans Pay Each Other” survey, the Brookfield, Wisc.-based company polled 2,533 Americans on how they made payments. Among the study’s key findings were: Of the 88 percent of respondents reporting they had given or sent money to another person in the previous year, cash was the most popular option, with 56 percent having used greenbacks. Checks came next, with 41 percent; while just 31 percent had used an online method such as PayPal or a bank-based P2P payment service.
Despite the popularity of cash, nearly one-third of respondents said they never have enough cash on hand to pay someone back, and 79 percent said they would be open to using a digital P2P payment service from their bank. Those numbers represent a major opportunity for payment providers, said Fiserv, whose own payment service, Popmoney, enables users to split bills and make P2P transfers using an email address or mobile phone number.
Another development that should bolster demand for online P2P payments is the growing popularity among households of splitting bills. Sixty-nine percent of survey respondents who share bill payment responsibilities with a friend or roommate have one person pay the bills and others pay them back, while 42 percent of married couples do the same.
