United Kingdom Mobile Payments Market Size (2024 - 2029)

UK Mobile Payments Market Analysis

The United Kingdom mobile payments market is estimated to register a CAGR of 22.3% from 2022 to 2027. The market majorly comprises players offering software as a service in the form of mobile applications used for making payments. The United Kingdom (UK) is a mature space for mobile payments, as the country for one of the earliest adopters to introduce mobile payments.

• Mobile payments in the UK started taking shape around 2011 when a sum of GBP 100 could be loaded into a smartphone digitally and used for small purchases. The devices then used Near Field Communication (NFC) for contactless payments, with the system functioning under a pay-as-you-go configuration. The country has closely witnessed the evolution of such smart payment features, from SMS-based payments to modern-day smartphone and online payments.
• The internet is evolving with more and more e-commerce platforms coming into existence. The ecosystem is developed through joint venturing between financial banks, payment gateways, and service providers for the App, making way for mobile payments. The introduction of wearables and incorporation of NFC and other technologies into the connected devices has considerably eased the mode of payment. The inclusion of virtual assistants and mobile payment app compatibility with them is also mostly end-to-end encrypted to provide state-of-the-art security and reliability.
• However, cybersecurity is a constant threat to mobile payments. According to Proofpoint, over three-fourths of UK businesses will be affected by ransomware in 2021. Also, according to BBC, 82% of the UK companies had to pay the ransomware hackers to get their data back, ahead of the global average rate of 58%, making the UK the most likely to pay cyber-attackers. Thus, it creates a serious need for cutting-edge cyber security to be offered by mobile payments companies, ensuring safe and protected payments.
• The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a big boost for mobile payments, with the UK users getting aware to avoid payment modes that included physical contact with the commonly touched points in the general environment, the contactless method of payment offered by mobile payments helped in making transactions even during the lockdowns. Many online and e-commerce platforms enabled mobile payments during the pandemic, which gave it a great push to become the new norm.

UK Mobile Payments Industry Segmentation

Mobile payments refer to the different media of payments through software as a service in smart electronic devices, including smartphones, smart wearables, or any other device facilitating the supported operating system. The payment can be made in real-time or remotely through the cloud setup.

The United Kingdom mobile payments market is segmented by type (Proximity Payment and Remote Payment).