First Annapolis has released its 2011 Mobile Person-to-Person (P2P) Payments Study. The report provides unique insights into how leading providers of P2P services are leveraging mobile technology and capabilities to offer market-competitive mobile P2P offerings.
This study provides a detailed view of the leading mobile P2P implementations currently available in the U.S. market. The study is presented in a PowerPoint format with over 40 pages of content and analysis from first-person tests and evaluations of the capabilities of each service. The report contains over 50 tables & graphs and several case studies, as well as profiles for each service examined.
In order to drive adoption and scale quickly, leading P2P service providers offer funding source and destination-agnostic approaches of sending and distributing payments. For a service to be viewed as attractive, users must be able to move funds across multiple channels, including email, texts, as well as via social networks. 100% of the providers evaluated support multiple mobile channels.
Pricing for P2P varies greatly across the ecosystem. Providers, like Chase, US Bank, and PayPal, enable free transfers, but limit funding sources to linked DDA to ensure only low cost ACH channels are used. PayPal also offers the ability to transfer from a linked bankcard, but charges the user 2.9% + $0.30 to do so. Some competitors, like Amazon Payments and American Express’ Serve, do not charge fees, regardless of whether the transaction is funded from stored balance, ACH / DDA, or a linked bank card. Other providers have fees that range from $0.25 - $0.99 depending on the size of the transaction
A steep learning curve among consumers was observed across a majority of platforms; typically, users needed 4-5 minutes to make their first transaction, but significantly less time to complete subsequent transfers. 75% of the platforms tested had an average transaction time of less than 3 minutes.
Some providers are enabling unique methods of loading funds to their services as a means of differentiation. 25% of those services tested offer mobile remote deposit capture, allowing users to make a deposit to their account by taking a photograph of a paper check. Moreover, PayPal is using the retail channel to enable cash reloads via GreenDot MoneyPaks.
During April and May 2011, First Annapolis researched the mobile P2P market in an effort to fully understand the capabilities and features of the major players currently operating in the space. In addition, multiple person-to-person payment transactions were executed across a study group of twelve leading P2P providers. The data gathered from these interactions were recorded in a common format, which First Annapolis used to synthesize into a unique set of observations and analyses. This primary research and analysis coupled with available market data are presented in our 2011 Mobile P2P Report.
The study is available for $3,000. The purchase of the report includes a walk-through and Q&A session with the authors.
For a sample from the report or more information contact: EmergingPayments@FirstAnnapolis.com
