Mercator
Advisory Group is releasing the second in the CustomerMonitor Survey Series
2013 Insight Reports, a series of eight biannual reports based on primary
research on consumer payments and banking channels. The series has an expanded
panel of 3,000 U.S. adult consumers reflective of the U.S. Bureau of the Census
demographic profile of U.S. adult households to gain deeper insight into
subsegments of the market.
Prepaid
2013: U.S. Consumers Buying More Prepaid Cards for Own Use, the latest report from Mercator Advisory Group, which presents results
from the
Payments survey, conducted between May 28 and June
6, 2013, reveals that 53 percent of U.S. adult consumers surveyed had bought
prepaid cards in the preceding year, up from 47 percent of respondents who
recalled buying prepaid cards in the 2012 survey. While more consumers buy prepaid
cards for gifts than for their own use, the 2013 survey reveals that the
percentage buying for self-use is rising. This trend is even more apparent for
virtual cards, which are increasingly delivered by mobile device, either by
Short Message Service (SMS) text or through a mobile app. More than 1 in 4
consumers bought virtual cards within the year preceding the survey; half purchasing
them as gifts and half for their own use.
This study examines the demographic shift and
changing landscape of prepaid card use and recalled loads; reloading awareness,
usage, and frequency; distribution channels, importance of feature sets
including awareness and use of direct deposit and brand awareness of eight
major brands of general purpose reloadable (GPR) cards
“As new U.S. banking regulations force many banks to raise fees on checking
accounts and debit card rules continue to be challenged, many in the banking
and payments industry are looking to prepaid cards to gauge their use as a
preferred payment tool,” states Karen Augustine, manager of CustomerMonitor Survey
Series at Mercator Advisory Group and the author of the report. “Prepaid
buyers are more likely to be younger, mobile-enabled, and buy cards for their
own use. Prepaid cards are becoming more of a primary payment method and not
relegated only for gifts.”
The report is 56 pages long and contains 25 exhibits
Companies mentioned in this report are: American Express, Chase, GreenDot, H&R Block, NetSpend, Rush,
Walmart.
Members
of Mercator Advisory GroupCustomerMonitor Survey Series Service have
access to this report as well as the upcoming research for the year ahead,
presentations, analyst access, and other membership benefits.
Please
visit us online at www.mercatoradvisorygroup.com.
For
more information and media inquiries, please call Mercator Advisory Group's
main line: (781) 419-1700, or send email to info@mercatoradvisorygroup.com.
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Mercator
Advisory Group
is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively
focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely
research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative
opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range
from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and
associations to leading technology providers, and investors. Mercator Advisory
Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and
information portal PaymentsJournal.com.