Samsung Pay is challenging the dominance of Apple Pay in the US market, according to a new study by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG).
The firm’s latest Mobile Pay Tracker reveals that Samsung Pay users report higher satisfaction levels and fewer issues at the point of sale compared to Apple Pay.
According to ACG, for more than a year after its introduction, Apple Pay was the only real option for consumers who wanted to pay via smartphone. But that changed towards the end of 2015, when Android Pay and Samsung Pay were rolled out in the US.
Apple Pay is still in the lead when it comes to usage, with 33% of iPhone 6 owners reporting that they’ve used it, but Samsung Pay isn’t far behind at 23%.
When it comes to rating their mobile payment experience, 92% of Samsung Pay users are “satisfied”, compared to 84% of Apple Pay users, with near equal proportions likely to recommend the payment app.
“The impact of satisfaction becomes more telling when we examine how these users pay for their monthly purchases,” commented Marianne Berry, managing director of ACG’s Payment Insights practice. “The majority of Samsung Pay users utilise other payment methods less since beginning with Samsung Pay. No other mobile payment application can say that.”
ACG’s research shows that Samsung Pay eligible consumers report the highest proportion of discretionary spend going to the payment app (22%), while Apple Pay eligible consumers cite a lesser proportion (15%), behind both credit card and cash spend.
Samsung Pay users also spend more via the service ($82 vs. $75 for Apple Pay) within an average week. And they experience fewer difficulties at point of sale (19% vs. 31%) — something the research firm attributes to the fact that Samsung Pay is accepted anywhere that takes magnetic stripe credit cards.
“Samsung Pay advertising highlights this benefit, and 37% of those who are aware of this have used the method where other mobile pays aren’t accepted,” Berry said.
“Right now the pool of eligible Samsung users is much smaller than Apple’s, but as more Samsung phones are upgraded, the application’s broader merchant acceptance has the potential to more quickly convert its smartphone owners to Pay users,” she concluded.
