Nearly half of consumers happy for smart devices to shop on their behalf

27th September 2017 – London — New research from Worldpay reveals that nearly half (46%) of consumers globally would feel comfortable letting smart devices in their home make a purchase on their behalf without asking them. This marks a tipping point for smart in-home technologies.

Brazilians are by far the most receptive, with 81% saying they would feel comfortable for a connected device in their home to make an automatic purchase on their behalf. This is stark contrast to the UK, where only 24% of respondents are at ease with this form of automated payment.

Nick Telford-Reed, Director of Technology Innovation at Worldpay said: “It won’t be long before routine tasks like buying milk and ordering prescriptions become invisible and automatic. With the right technologies and controls in place, consumers will soon be as comfortable for their washing machine to purchase detergent as they are for a gym to take direct deposits out of their bank account. The time is now for businesses to consider how they can make customers’ lives more convenient with automated payments.

While a growing number of consumers welcome the prospect of connected devices – data security and privacy remain major concerns. Worldpay’s research has found that 72% of consumers worry about device manufacturers sharing their personal data, and 74% have anxieties about these devices being hacked.

The onus now falls on businesses to reassure consumers. Indeed, 45% of respondents say trust in a company would make them more likely to share their personal data with them.

Telford-Reed added: “Despite reservations, no matter if done by a human or machine, it is vital for consumers to remain in control when they’re delegating payment tasks. Our research has found that there should always be a conscious ‘act of consent’; be that via a device notification, button push or a pre-set rule like a spending limit, being agreed in advance. The beauty of technology advancements means that there are many opportunities for virtual assistants and connected devices to make consumers lives easier. If machines can offer consumers a ‘concierge’ style service that reduces day-to-day life admin and menial tasks then there is no reason why they won’t want to delegate some of their shopping responsibilities – after all, we would all appreciate an extra bit of time to ourselves. In the end, consumers need confidence that machines can be trusted to make the right decisions and keep their owners informed and in control.”

To help companies overcome the perceived security barrier, Worldpay is trialing an open source software development kit (SDK) to facilitate payments between connected devices. Worldpay Within is an embeddable payments agent that allows smart devices to make and accept payments simply, quickly and securely. With the number of connected devices estimated to reach 20 billion globally by the end of 2017¹, making sure these technologies can communicate effectively and securely will be crucial to getting the most value out of them.

From 3-5^th November, Worldpay will host its first ever hackathon in Bucharest, Romania, where attendees will be challenged to use Worldpay Within to develop innovative applications of IoT technology in payments. To register for the Worldpay Payments & IoT hackathon, visit the event website.

About the data
The research was conducted by research house Opinium in June 2017 and interviewed 20,000 consumers who have heard about the Internet of Things in Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, The Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United States of America and United Kingdom. The full Connected Consumer report is available upon request. In Germany, 2,002 consumers were surveyed.

About Worldpay
Worldpay is a leading payments company with global reach. We provide an extensive range of technology-led payment products and services to around 400,000 customers, enabling their businesses to grow and prosper. We manage the increasing complexity of the payments landscape for our customers, allowing them to accept the widest range of payment types around the world. Using our network and technology, we are able to process payments from geographies covering 99% of global GDP, across 146 countries and 126 currencies. We help our customers to accept more than 300 different payment types. For more information, Visit us at www.worldpay.com.

For more information, please contact:

Global eCom
Emily Lahey, PR Director
+44 (0) 203 664 5663
emily.lahey@worldpay.com

Golin
Nitesh Khetani
+44 (0) 207 067 0128
worldpayecommteam@golin.com

¹ Statista: IoT – Number of connected devices worldwide 2015-2025