Mercator Advisory Group’s most recent Insight Report from the CustomerMonitor Survey Series reveals that as smartphone penetration increases, reaching 72% of U.S. adults, more consumers are using their phones to make payments. In fact, 42% of smartphone owners have used their mobile device to pay for goods and services in stores or online. Based on U.S. Census Bureau data, approximately 71.5 million U.S. adults used mobile payments in 2015, up from 61 million in 2014.

The introduction of Apple Pay on Apple iPhone 6 and 6Plus models with record-breaking sales has helped to foster the growth of mobile payments. Apple Pay users use mobile payments more frequently than average. While half of mobile payers report using mobile payments in stores at least once a week, 80% of Apple Pay users use Apple Pay at least once a week, and 19% of Apple Pay users used it 10 or more times in the previous month. Mobile payers appear to be using mobile payments as often as they can at stores they frequently visit.

Consumers are gaining familiarity with mobile banking and mobile payment, primarily for its convenience. Mobile Payments Is Really Here, the latest research report from Mercator Advisory Group, reveals mobile payments and mobile banking is of growing interest even for wearable technology in the form of wristbands, large-sized wristwatches and clip-on devices.

This study examines the demographic shift and changing landscape of Web-enabled mobile users, consumer use of mobile devices for making payments and shopping online and in stores, related payment features including e-couponing, e-receipting, e-loyalty as well as payment, balance, and fraud alerts, experience with Apple Pay compared to payment cards, and ownership, purchase plans and important features of wearable technology for payments.

The report findings are based on Mercator’s CustomerMonitor Survey Series online panel of 3,008 U.S. adult consumers surveyed in June 2015.

“Smartphone penetration is maturing, gaining broad-based market penetration as most U.S. consumers use their mobile to shop and increasingly buy goods and services in stores and online. Convenience is driving them to use mobile payments more often at the stores they visit, especially to redeem timely and useful e-coupons, discounts, and loyalty rewards,” states Karen Augustine, author of the report and manager of Primary Data Services at Mercator Advisory Group, which includes the CustomerMonitor Survey Series.

The report is 72 pages long and contains 34 exhibits