Forecast: Mobile payments for physical goods to top $170B by 2015

Mobile payments for physical goods are on pace to exceed a gross merchandise transaction value of $170 billion worldwide by 2015, almost triple the $60 billion forecast for 2011, according to a new Juniper Research report.

Juniper credits the initial growth in mobile payments activity to the flurry of retail applications introduced in the wake of smartphones like Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, adding there is a growing industry understanding of the importance of delivering an integrated digital shopping experience enabling seamless consumer access to retailer sites across multiple devices.

"Our research for this report underlined the importance of mobile as an extra channel to market, but Juniper believes that mobile campaigns must be tightly linked to print, online and store based campaigns to ensure consistency of customer experience. Increasingly people will browse on one device such as a PC and then buy from another such as a smartphone," said Juniper senior analyst David Snow in a statement.

Juniper anticipates that mobile payment options will gain further momentum as retailers introduce point-of-sale solutions supporting cashless transactions in stores. The report adds that merchants have experienced a significant increase in average transaction value when consumers opt for mobile payment methods over cash.

For more:
- read this release

Related articles:
Gartner: Worldwide mobile payment volume to grow 76% in 2011
Financial execs survey: Mobile payments going mainstream by 2015
Forecast: Mobile payments market to reach $670B by 2015
Forecast: Contactless payments to reach $50B worldwide by 2014